Felix took a deep breath, sucking in the brisk air. Above him, the sky was clear. Below him, snow covered the ground. With each and every step, it crunched under foot.

Winter. That was his singular thought.

But something feels off… He could not quite shake the feeling that the scene before him was wrong somehow.

He studied his surroundings closer.

Buildings, homes and shops surrounded him as he trudged down the street. People passed by, giving him a wide berth. Many gave him a nod, but some stopped and stared with awe.

Of course, I’m the hero, he joked to himself. Yet, that thought twigged something in the deep recesses of his mind. Hero… Champion–

That caused him to stop. He took another look at the cityscape around him. He watched the people as they passed. Even the snow did not escape scrutiny.

The buildings were distorted, the people mere blurs. Felix reached down and scooped up a handful of snow.

It was not cold.

“Where am I?” His words were barely muttered, but it was enough for the scene to shatter.

The past.

Startled, he whipped around and found… Himself.

A mirror image, stared back at him with a somber expression.

You killed them.

Felix, the real Felix, took a deep breath and steadied himself. “That me is dead. This me is trying to help.”

The mirror image shook its head. The old you is buried, forgotten. But it is not dead. It pointed directly at his heart.

She hides it away from you–

“No!” His sudden shout surprised himself. More calmly he continued, “It is dead. It will stay dead.”

It is there. I am it.

“Then I will kill you.”

And then you will become me. You will become your old self.

With a blink of his eye, Felix found his hands wrapped around the mirror image’s neck.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. His grip tightened, the image began choking.

“You are nothing but doubt. Doubt that clouds my mind.”

With one final squeeze, the image, the ghost– His doubt shattered.

“I have surpassed you.”

----------------------------------------

Three days later…

Oralyn was close to her destination, so very close. Yet, for the last few minutes she and her hunters-turned-escorts were hunkering down in the brush while the lead hunter, Julous, was busy snaking his way up one of the sky trees.

“Will he be okay?” she asked, poking her head out.

A hand forced her back to the ground. “Get down!” one of the guards whisper-shouted at her. “He’ll be fine, he’s done it before.”

She was not convinced but before she could air it, a mighty roar sounded off in the distance. The entire group froze.

“That sounded like it’s getting closer…”

“Quiet!” Doram made a gesture for everyone to listen. “Do you hear that?”

Oralyn closed her eyes and focused on her hearing. At first, she heard nothing save for the wind blowing through the canopy above. But then, from somewhere up high, she caught a faint whooshing sound.

“What is that?” she asked, trying harder to pinpoint the noise. It was growing louder–

Another roar, this one sounded different, more higher pitched.

“Whatever it is, there’s two!” one of the guards said nervously.

The whooshing sound was getting louder still.

She chanced a glance up to the canopy. Through the small breaks of coverage, a massive blur raced by. A roar followed, this one deeper.

A second object streaked above, this one moving even faster than the first.

Now, Oralyn was terrified. Two large, flying beasts were hunting them, she was sure of it. We have to get out of here! her mind screamed.

Thankfully, she wasn’t the only one thinking that as one of the other hunters started to get up.

“Wait!” Doram shouted, pointing up to the tree that Julous had climbed.

The lead hunter was signing something back down to them. She didn’t know what it meant, but the hunters suddenly began to relax.

“What did he say?” she asked.

“No threat, friendly.”

“What? Is… Is he sure?”

“He’s never been wrong before.” Doram stated as if that was proof enough.

One final, distant roar echoed out.

Gods, I hope he’s right…

A few minutes later, Julous was back with the group. Where his expression had once been concern, now it was replaced with excitement.

Doram gave him a nod and offered a water skin. “So, what did you see?”

Julous took a sip and handed it back. “Dragons,” he answered with a smile.

Hopeful, Oralyn interjected. “Are you certain?”

“Absolutely. They’re the same ones I saw at Bernel during the Ascension Day celebrations. There is no way I could mistake them for anything else.”

Relief flooded through her mind. Thank the Gods! Here I thought I was about to die…

“Anyway, now that we have that little scare out of the way… We should get moving again, we’re nearly there.”

“Agreed, I would like to get there before evening.” she said, quickly dusting herself off.

Doram chuckled. “Don’t worry, we should be only two or so hours out.”

“Right then,” Julous gave everyone a once-over. “Let’s head out…”

***

Stepping into the clearing, Oralyn nearly collapsed in front of the manor. Her almost forgotten exhaustion came rushing back to her. I’ve made it…

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Their journey hadn’t been the most exciting one, but days trekking through the forest had taken its toll on her. Unfortunately, while she was relieved to finally make it here, the real challenge was about to begin.

“Well, what did I say?” Doram asked, gloating.

“Two hours,” one of the other hunters answered.

“Exactly! And look, here we–”

“Knock it off, we’re not done.” Julous said, interrupting him. Meanwhile, they were now making their way around the manor, towards the obvious sounds of life.

Coming around, Oralyn was struck with a mixture of emotions. First, it was evident that they were not the first to arrive. There were two, rather large camps. One close by and one further away. Their sizes indicated that they each were made up of different tribes, the one closer was definitely bigger however.

The thought that they might be one of the last did not bode well for her. It meant that she truly did slow her group down. Damn it! That means Calinna and Eri had more time to solidify their positions…

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for her, though. The amount of elves here was more than she expected, at least initially. So while she would be starting at a disadvantage, she was confident she could make it up.

I don’t need everyone’s support, really I just need to make a convincing case and get enough on my side. Of course, she knew there was only one person whose opinion mattered but there was hope that if she could secure enough support, it would be enough to convince the human in charge.

Speaking of the human, it was about that time when two loud roars caught the entire clearing’s attention. Oralyn faced the direction and craned her neck. Above her, two mighty dragons swooped through the sky.

She watched with a mixture of awe and fear as they pivoted and made for the ground. She wasn’t the only one, her group and about a quarter of the clearing did the same.

As they grew closer and closer, she realized that there were two people riding on the dragons, one on each.

“The purple one is Zira, if I remember correctly,” Julous said in almost a whisper. “Her partner is the human, Felix. Kyrith is the orange and red one, and his partner is one of your competitors.”

“Eri,” Oralyn muttered.

A few moments later, the dragons landed. Dust and dirt were kicked up into the air, partially obscuring the two majestic creatures. It was enough to break the spell on her.

“Let’s go meet them,” she said.

“Perhaps, you should go alone. I feel like this may end up being a more private affair. Besides, we need to find a spot to set up our camp,” Julous responded.

”Very wel–”

“Oralyn?!” A familiar voice called out.

Taking her attention away from the dragons, Oralyn turned to the voice.

“Calinna, how are–”

“It is you!” Calinna shouted, racing up and pulling her into a hug.

“Yes… It’s me… Can you let go?” she struggled to say.

“But I haven’t seen you in a long time! I’ve missed you, you know?”

“I…understand but…I can’t–”

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” the other woman quickly let go but kept close.

Her escorts chuckled as she took a gulp of air. She threw them a dirty look. “You should go now.”

She waited until they were gone before bringing her attention back to Calinna. “Anyway, I’m glad to see you again. I just wished it was under different circumstances…”

“What do you mean? I’m always glad to see you.”

“I know, but unfortunately we are rivals.”

Calinna’s smile fell away. “We don’t have to hate each other though… Me and Eri have gotten along.”

Oralyn rested a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “I never said that, but this whole queen selection will complicate things. Especially when we both are at a disadvantage.”

“I see.” The smile returned but it was much more subdued. “But what do you mean we’re at a disadvantage?”

Gods, please, why must it be her? She isn’t meant for this. “Listen–” Oralyn stopped herself as she noticed something in Calinna’s hands.

“What is that?” she asked.

“Huh? Oh! It’s my new sketchbook!” Her smile brightened even more as she held it up.

“Sketch…book? Wait, when did you start learning how to draw?” Oralyn asked with a perplexed look.

“Only recently… But Gillador says I’m pretty good! He gave it to me! Do you want to see?” The other woman was already flipping it open.

“Sure, I suppose I’m… Curious…” She found herself trailing off as she inspected the open book. It was a sketch of a dragon. It was a highly detailed sketch of a dragon…

Oralyn’s jaw dropped. “When…did you start drawing, again?”

“Two or three days ago, I think? I honestly don’t remember, it's been so busy… What do you think, though?”

“It’s good– No, it's amazing. I’m impressed.” And admittedly, a little jealous. Oralyn had tried multiple times to learn how to draw but she was never any good at it.

“Really? That’s a relief, I was worried you might not like it.”

She forced a smile of her own, even as a pit formed in her stomach. This was a bad sign, an ill omen. If Calinna could improve, she will be a strong contender. Not many people can resist her sweet and innocent charm.

“Anyway, perhaps you could introduce me to Felix? I was about to go over and talk to him,” she said, deciding to change the topic.

“Hmm? I haven’t actually met him yet either.”

“Wait, really? Why not? You’ve been here for several days at least.”

“I don’t know, I guess there just hasn’t been time?” Calinna shrugged and closed her sketchbook.

“Huh. Well, all the more reason to come with me then. We’ll introduce ourselves together, how about that?”

“Sure…and you can meet Kyrith. He’s a little scary looking, but he’s quite friendly.”

Oralyn gave her a more genuine smile but she couldn’t help but notice a slight hesitancy in her voice. Still, she decided to ignore it and held out a hand for Calinna. “I look forward to it.”

Calinna accepted her hand and with that, the two set off for the dragons.

----------------------------------------

Felix slid off of Zira’s side and landed with a grunt. His entire body was stiff and sore. I shouldn’t be surprised, not after all the training I’ve done.

I’m just glad we’re finally training together, Zira responded.

He chuckled. Yeah, who knew training for aerial combat would be so difficult? The two of them, along with Eri and Kyrith, decided to play a little game of tag. At least, that’s what Kyrith called it. In truth, it was meant to be actual training.

Effectively the two dragons had to chase one another and ‘tag’ their opponent. All the while, their partners held on for dear life. They all were drained by the end of it, but Felix was beginning to wonder if there was a better way.

The problem was simple, all the real work was done by the dragons. Him and Eri could do nothing but pray they wouldn’t fall. While Zira and Kyrith had no qualms with this, it wasn’t sitting very well with Felix…

“We’ll win next time for sure!” Felix heard Kyrith shout, the ember-colored dragon was the most disappointed out of all of them.

“Not if it is against me,” Zira responded with a toothy smile. “You could barely keep up!”

Felix shook his head and left the dragons to their banter. In the end, he and Zira had barely won. But that was enough for the amethyst dragon. So instead of engaging, he made his way over to Eri who was busy stretching out her own stiff muscles.

“I must say, that was quite fun,” she said as he approached.

“Yeah… But surely we can come up with something better?” he said with a half-smile.

“Do you have an idea?” she asked curiously, finishing her stretches.

“Maybe? More like a vague idea…”

“Oh? I’m listening.”

“Well, Kyrith and Zira did most of the work. So, I was thinking if there was something we could do.”

She gave him an annoyed look. “Okay, so what did you come up with?”

Felix shrugged. “The best I could think of was having something attached to the dragons and we, you and I, have to retrieve it.”

“Hmm? An interesting idea… I could see the benefits, like practicing staying on while simultaneously having to attack,” Eri used air quotes as she said ‘attack.’

“Or defend,” He added. “But I’m not sure what we should use. Maybe a strip of cloth or something to that effect? Have it tied to their tail? I’m still trying to work that part out.”

“I’ll think about it as well, but…” She gestured with her head towards the clearing. “It looks like we have company.”

“Hmm?” Felix turned around and saw two elven women coming up. One looked like a mixture of excitement and nerves, the other looked… Determined.

“Looks like Calinna and– Actually, I’m not entirely sure who the other is but I think I can take a guess.”

He let out a sigh. “I think I can as well…”

“You haven’t met with Calinna yet, have you?” Eri asked curiously.

Felix froze. “N-no… Not yet.” Truthfully, he had forgotten all about introducing himself. Thankfully, he found a convenient excuse. “I’ve been waiting for the last candidate to show up. I wanted to introduce myself properly to both at the same time.”

Eri gave him a wry smile, knowing full well he was lying. “Makes sense, but… I think the wait is over.”

“Yeah… Hopefully this goes well,” he said before nudging Zira’s mind. Looks like the last candidate has arrived. Do you want to come and introduce yourself?

She let out a snort before answering. Of course!

He held back a chuckle and brought his attention back to Eri. “Do you want to come along?”

“Me and Kyrith will. The last candidate looks familiar, but I don’t believe I’ve met her personally,” she said, coming to stand next to him.

“Hopefully, she’s friendly!” Kyrith added suddenly, clearly listening in to their conversation.

“Well, Kyrith, there’s only one way to know for sure,” Felix responded, letting a smile show.

“Come on then, let’s go say hi.”