Omega's Rebirth

"Davina? What are you doing here?" Neveah asked in bafflement, glancing around to be sure no one else was closeby.

It was getting quite late into the evening and Neveah had grown familiar enough with academy rules to know Davina should not have been here at this time.

"Other than the riders, no one is allowed on academy grounds by these hours. You will get in trouble with the guards."

"Especially at this time when mostly everyone is on alert after what happened with Narx, you should know better than to leave the Citadel at this time." Neveah added.

Davina did not respond immediately, for a moment she contemplated if to give Neveah an answer or not and Neveah caught the conflict in the eyes of the chief attendant.

It was a strange look to find on Davina since Neveah knew her to be someone who was always straightforward and had been nothing but adoring to Neveah.

Neveah however did not think much of it as she knew Davina would eventually speak, her stance relaxed too as it was only Davina and not a stranger.

"The guards know I am here, I asked to pay you a visit for a moment to convey my father’s words." Davina revealed.

Neveah frowned slightly, Lord Rodrick was the dragon king’s mouth piece, would there be anything he would have to say to her in the absence of King Jian?

"Lord Rodrick’s words? What of them?" Neveah asked,

Again, Davina did not respond. She merely shook her head from side to side which Neveah understood to mean there were no words from Lord Rodrick.

Neveah raised a brow, chuckling quietly.

"I did not imagine you could actually say untrue words. Lying to dragon guards? Did Menarx send you to me?" Neveah asked curiously as that was the only explanation for why Davina could not reveal her true purpose to the dragon guards.

By Master Maloway’s orders, Menarx was not allowed near the academy till the war was sorted out, just in case he snatched Neveah away as he had done before.

"No... Lord Menarx made flight to scout the hidden city and has not yet returned." Davina replied.

Neveah frowned slightly, it was neither Lord Rodrick or Menarx, who else could have had Davina pay Neveah a visit?

"Why have you come then? It could not be that you have come just to see me." Neveah asked again.

Davina still was not forthcoming and a sense of unease bubbled up within Neveah.

Truly, Neveah did not know Davina so well, she had never given Davina the chance to be as closely acquainted with Neveah as Davina seemed to want.

However, Neveah knew enough to begin to wonder just how unlike her usual self Davina was acting at the time.

Neveah spared a glance around the forest again. It was hard to imagine that Davina had come out here in search of her, how had Davina known Neveah took this path back to the resident tower?

Even Master Maloway himself was not aware Neveah preferred this path as it was where she often let her wolf out whenever she had the slightest opportunity.

"Is there something I should know?" Neveah asked again.

"There is infact something you would want to know of." Davina finally replied, pulling out a neatly wrapped parchment tucked into her belt.

Davina handed it over to Neveah and Neveah took the parchment, her brow still curled up questioningly as she loosened the ties and unfurled the parchment.

Neveah expected to see writings or something of the sort, but instead a dark mist emanated from the parchment, right into Neveah’s face.

Neveah’s eyes widened slightly as she tossed the parchment aside, passing a look of disbelief to Davina just as a piercing sharp pain shot up from her gut, clogging up her airway.

The pain was one thing, but it felt to Neveah as though her lungs had collapsed into each other and the effect was immediate, her surroundings began to spin, her vision growing blurry as she gasped for breath.

"Davina...you..." Neveah gasped out hoarsely but the rest of her words were caught in her throat and just would not come out,

The last thing Neveah saw was Davina’s unfazed expression as she collapsed to the ground, blacking out.

___________

The wind was chilling cold at the break of dawn, brushing against Jian’s skin yet he could barely feel it.

He stood at the top of the hill as he had the very first moment he arrived here, gazing over at the human settlement as the first streaks of daylight lit up the sky.

As always, his expression was blank and it was impossible to tell what thoughts ran through his mind.

But if one could see beneath the surface, one would sense the turmoil and dread the dragon king held within as another day broke and that darkness loomed in the horizon.

"My Liege..." Cassian called to Jian, interrupting his thoughts.

"This is the first day of the 41st week." Jian murmured, more to himself than to Cassian but Cassian replied either ways.

"It is indeed." Cassian concurred.

"It is too late to have the town evacuated, but we have barred off the forest, we will not let the humans venture in. They will not be caught in the cross fire, you may be rest assured, My Liege." Cassian assured when Jian did not speak.

"Rest assured... I will be, when the troll golem is slain." Jian replied.

"Look at them Cass...they have no knowledge... I will not have a single one harmed. I will not." Jian reiterated.

"Your wish...is our mandate, brother. Not a single one harmed, I will stake my life on it." Cassian said, lowering his head to a bow.

"Your life...is a piece of mine. Need I say?" Jian asked, passing a glance over to Cassian.

"I do know it." Cassian replied, a ghost of a smile lingering on his lips.

"Tell me why you have come to me." Jian asked, knowing there was more to Cassian’s presence.

"A message arrived from the citadel...it is meant for you." Cassian reported.

"Hmmm." Jian hummed as he passed a final glance to the settlement and then headed back to the camp.