Death was an eternal scream. Blackness darker than night. Agony beyond imagination. It wrapped its timeless fingers around Soleis and squeezed. He flailed out of his clothes, trying to escape the inky abyss. But, he couldn’t swim to the surface. He could only fall and feel and pray for the end.

Cold, lifeless bodies floating in the unending well of the Essence of the Dragon brushed against him. The pool was filled with people. Elbows rubbed, hands whispered through his hair, arms tangled. The frigid caresses made memories that weren’t his explode into his consciousness.

Snatches of an argument.

The hazy face of a lover in a candlelit room.

A newborn gazing raptly into his eyes.

A fist coming at him, displaced rage.

So, this was what it meant to be absorbed? He saw the lives of Belzaan’s victims play out in his head. Now, his would join theirs.

His will to survive ebbed away. His lifeless eyes stared blankly at the moving pictures of memories. His lips parted, though his chest no longer moved with respirations. His empty fingers twitched reflexively. He sank…and sank deeper.

A piano tinkled in his dreams. Frank Sinatra crooned “My Way.” Dead Soleis almost smiled. His ghost was back in the rustic cabin where he had grown up. And, there she was. His mother. Daya had a hand on his shoulder, the other in his grasp. He twirled her around the room in a lazy slow dance. When she rested her head on his shoulder, he felt the tell-tale wetness of tears.

“Why are you crying, Mom?”

“Because I don’t want to lose you,” she whispered.

“You won’t,” he chuckled. “It’s not my destiny to fail.”

She giggled and sniffed. “Who said anything about failure? Indeed, you’ll do everything you’re destined to do. I—I’m just afraid you’ll burn through the years in the process.” She gathered his face and forced him to look her in the eyes. “Remember, destiny aside, this life is yours. Live it fully, love with all your heart, and never forget your first duty is to yourself…”

The memory swirled like milk in black coffee. He was in the Fire Realm, sizing up the father he had never really known. Familiar mountains sprang from the landscape in the distance. The walls of the keep were in those hills. Arken wrapped arms around him in a fierce hug that embarrassed the young dragon, and Soleis pulled away with a wry grin.

“By the gods, you’re everything I was and more!”

“Nice to see you, too,” Soleis quipped. Arken sighed in pleasure as he looked him over. They were the same height, same build—shared the same features—but he was dark-haired to Soleis’ fair.

“Your mother tells me you want to travel the realms,” he said.

“Yes. I know I have a duty here in the kingdom, but it seems you have everything under control, now that the dragon eaters are gone.”

“Indeed. I applaud your decision to get out there and see what the worlds have to offer. In fact, I want to give you the stone. It’ll take you wherever your heart desires, and it’ll keep you safe along the way.”

“You mean, you’ll give me the Heart of the Dragon? Aren’t you afraid something will happen to it?” Soleis asked skeptically. His whole life, he’d been told the stone was a priceless artifact. His mother had protected it like it was her own child.

Arken clapped a hand on his shoulder as they strolled the beach at King’s Isle. “I trust you, my son,” he said. “Just remember where home is, and always find your way back to us.”

Soleis drifted on the black waves into another life event. He was in the supply closet at the research hospital where Lola worked. He had seen her when he entered, but she hadn’t heard him. She remained sitting alone, staring into her locker with that sad look on her face.

Something flared to life within him at the sight. Maybe it was simple male appreciation for the fairer sex. She was poised and attractive—and obviously smart and successful to be a doctor. He knew enough about this realm to realize that. After all, he had been raised here.

Soleis shoved what he needed into his pack and prepared to leave, but he stole another glance at her. Who had made her unhappy? A feckless lover? He sighed and reached for a box of rubber gloves. The Sea Realm had very little in the way of practical medical equipment, partly because no one got sick. Which reminded him, he needed to get back and tend to Flev.

“There’s no drugs in there,” she piped up behind him.

He turned, and they locked eyes, and his heart beat a new rhythm.

In the black waters of the Essence of the Dragon, his body jerked. Bubbles rose from his mouth. His eyes widened at the shock of his heart restarting. He kicked and swatted away the dead that crowded around him.

With each clammy brush with death, other peoples’ lives encroached. Soleis mentally pushed their memories away and kept his focus on Lola. He had to get out. She was in danger. The last thing he recalled was the Mad King splashing into the wading pool with him. The Essence wouldn’t harm its master. That meant Belzaan was still a threat.

There seemed no surface. There was no light. Soleis swam by feel, navigating the writhing tangle of bodies that suddenly animated to keep him pressed down. Claustrophobia rose like bile, and he thought he would never escape.

Suddenly, he swam into a gauzy net, and his face imprinted against the sheer black fabric. Through it, he could see the lab. His head was above the surface of the wading pool! He stretched his arm to grab the ledge and pull himself out, but the net simply stretched around him.

Hands clutched his shoulders, his neck. Soleis fought madly. Fingers clamped around his ankles. They were dragging him back. “No!” he panted. “Let me go! Let me GO!” He opened his mouth in a soundless scream as he sank. He squeezed his eyes shut in despair. So close…

When Soleis opened his eyes, he was with a woman making love to him so achingly tender that it hurt. The scene change stole his breath. Gods, she was exquisite! Her white blond hair fanned aquamarine waves. Her artful body floated against his, draining him with bliss. His eyelids fluttered as his jaw dropped.

“I love you, Sengenis,” the breathtaking Sylph whispered.

“Ainley,” he gasped. He buried his face in her neck, his brow furrowing from ecstasy and sorrow. She had allowed the dragons to banish him. Now, the two of them had a world to themselves where they could live out eternity in peace…and it wasn’t enough. “Take me back with you…”

“Please don’t ask that of me,” she moaned.

He sobbed as she undulated against him. Her hips flared beneath his fingertips, and he guided her in a dance known by every man and beast. As she clung to his neck, she ushered him faster to his climax—faster and harder with frenzied desperation.

How many decades had they wiled away in the Sea Realm? Almost a century of this. How much longer would her visits appease him? For all his adult life, she had been his lifeline. He had promised her this very end: That he would give up his world to have her. Still, he needed more. He needed the kingdom she had betrayed him to take away.

Sengenis gripped her throat, and her eyes widened. “Take me back,” he ordered through clenched teeth. Her surprise turned to resignation.

“Don’t make this mistake. The only way this ends is with your death,” she warned.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Ainley. But, you know I can. Just like the dragons taught the dragon eaters, you taught me everything I need to know to destroy you. Now, take me to the Fire Realm, or I’ll find a way myself…without you.”

“I thought I had your heart,” she whispered sadly.

“Aye, you have my heart. You have my mind, body and soul,” he grunted as he finished the act.

His seed filled her womb, and he fell away from her. With postcoital grace, Ainely folded her body against his side and rested her head on his chest, as if mere seconds ago, he hadn’t threatened to eliminate her. The wonder vanished. There was nothing between them but resentment, regrets and the empty satisfaction of release.

“Forgive my temper,” he muttered. “The dragon eaters must be destroyed. If mortals die with them, such is war. The Fire Realm is for the dragons, anyway. I will find my way back and take what’s rightfully mine.”

“Then, I have no choice,” she sighed. “I have to take what’s rightfully mine, too.” Without warning, the Woman of Light subdued him and reached into his chest. Sengenis gasped and cried out when her hand emerged from his being, and she had his heart. “You also said your mind, body and soul?”

“What manner of magic is this?” he rasped.

Diamond tears rained from her eyes and fell into the sea. “The kind I haven’t taught you,” she said. “You will never go back to the Fire Realm. You will die here.”

* * *

The words echoed in his head as he came awake. You will never go back to the Fire Realm. You will die here…Die here…A swell of disbelief washed over him. Soleis stared up at the night sky. The dungeon was gone. The acrid smell of chemicals he couldn’t name, the empty cells, the Mad King—Gone. He blinked in confusion as he floated on the warm tide away from Capital City.

When he lifted his head, he could see skyscrapers alight like stars. The air tram coasting on rails in the distance. Families were preparing for morning. Gondoliers were undocking their gondolas and heading to work. No one noticed the dragon shifter morph into a shape more amenable to swimming great distances and slink deeper into the ocean.

Soleis didn’t question his luck. He assumed…he assumed the Essence of the Dragon had only seemed never ending because the bottomless pool ran all the way to the sea. Somehow, he had caught a channel and escaped. Now, he had to get back to the rebel camp. From there, he would find out what had happened to President Belzaan.

The jewel-toned dragon raced through the water at maximum speed. He could picture Lola’s panic. She’d be worried sick. And, Thol! Soleis had been stunned to see the rebel leader transform into one of his kind. He realized Lola had changed him for her own protection, and he was grateful for her foresight. Without the extra pair of wings, she would’ve been Belzaan’s victim.

His sinuous mass moved with fluid and agility as he took rushing currents to hurry him to his destination. He had meticulously mapped out his escape route from the rebel camp the night before. When Lola and Thol had found him, he was in familiar waters near the city. So, he knew where he was going. He was nearly home.

The sun burst over the horizon as he crested the waves and saw the tiny island. He had made it there in record time. A giddy excitement bubbled over. He laughed and ducked beneath the waves again for the last stretch. Finally, he felt the sand beneath his scaled belly, and he morphed into man-shape. He swam to the beach and walked to the thin band of trees that bordered the tents on the other side of the woods.

“And, if our patient complains of a sharp pain in their shoulder blade, how do we know to check his stomach?” He heard Lola’s voice. Children clamored to answer her question, and she giggled. But, he thought he heard her sniff quietly as she settled them. “One at a time,” she said.

“Because it’s referred pain,” a young man replied.

“Excellent, Vardom! Who can tell me what else the shoulder blade pain can refer to?”

“The, uh, gallbladder!”

“You’re absolutely right, Asha. You—Oh, my god!”

With a grin, Soleis stepped into the clearing where she was teaching her class. Lola covered her mouth and stared with wide eyes. He spread his arms. The children looked from their teacher to him. He chuckled when she launched from the ground and ran into his hug.

“I knew you’d come back!” she gasped.

He kissed her temple. “I told you our goodbye wasn’t for good. Is it too soon to cut class? Where’s Thol? We have things to discuss.”

“Um, children, why don’t you all return to the camp and let your parents and guardians know an urgent matter has come up that requires my attention. We’ll resume our lessons tomorrow morning at our usual time.”

Her statement was met with a chorus of disappointed groans, but the children made a run for it. All except the tall, handsome youth who vaguely reminded him of Thol. Soleis nodded in the kid’s direction.

“Can I get a moment alone with your teacher?” he asked.

“Oh, that’s Vardom. He’s not a student. Technically, he’s more like a teaching assistant. He’s working with me to find a cure,” Lola explained.

“A cure for what?”

“We just talked about it yesterday. I told you we can try for a vaccine since he’s had the virus.”

“Right, right.” Soleis didn’t remember. Something about the way the teen looked at him made him uneasy. “Well, uh, Vardom, nice to meet you.”

“I’ve met you before,” Vardom muttered.

“No, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in the camp.” Soleis quirked a brow and stared pointedly until the teen backed away.

“I didn’t say we met in camp,” Vardom replied as he retreated.

Shrugging, Soleis returned his gaze to Lola with a teasing laugh. “Well, someone has a crush on you.”

“Never mind that. I can’t believe you’re back! I’ve spent the morning trying to behave like normal while fighting the deepest sense of despair. There are no words…” She wiped her eyes, and he knew she was telling the truth. She had barely been holding it together when he interrupted her class. “What happened to the Mad King? How did you escape? Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“Eh, I feel fine. Of course, I don’t understand everything that happened, but I’ll explain what I can. First, let’s go find Thol so we can discuss everything I do understand, like that dramatic transformation of his.”

Giggling, Lola put her arm through his, and they briskly trekked through the woods to the rebel leader’s tent at the edge of camp. She called out to him familiarly. When the door flap opened, Thol slowly rose to his full height, with mouth agape, staring in amazement.

“You cheated death. You lucky son of dragon, you came back!” he laughed, dragging Soleis into a fierce bear hug.

As he eased out of Thol’s embrace, he felt an inexplicable urge to hurt the rebel. But, it didn’t make sense, and Soleis recoiled from the thought. Thol was like a brother to him. Even when he imagined the rebel was vying for Lola’s attention, he hadn’t disliked him. He had only wished he would take his silly crush elsewhere.

Soleis mulled over the odd reaction while the three of them made their way to the far end of the island where they could talk in private. He would figure out what his feelings meant later.

“Have your spies heard anything about Belzaan?” he asked.

“According to reports, he’s traveling in another realm. I suspect he’s preparing to invade the Fire Realm with as much of his army as he can transport.”

“You heard this from your mole on the inside? What was his name, again?”

“…I never told you his name,” Thol murmured coolly. He crossed his arms and flicked a glance at Lola before looking at Soleis. “But, perhaps the Mad King traveling is why you were able to get out without drawing attention.”

“No, I swam out. I think the pool led to the ocean. I didn’t see the Mad King, a guard or anyone.”

“What exactly did you see?”

Lola’s red diamond ring snagged Soleis’ attention. He tried to turn back to the rebel, but he couldn’t. “I saw…what he does to people in the pool. He distills their lifeforce and uses it to create a revitalizing elixir. The dying’s cries of pain are like angels singing a hymn of immortality. The more they scream, the sweeter it tastes.”

Lola gulped. “What tastes? What are you talking about? Did he make you drink their lifeforce? What did he do to you?”

“Huh?” Soleis quirked a brow. Lola and the rebel were staring at him oddly. “What was I saying? I lost my train of thought. I guess I’m still not quite myself. But, uh…Good news.” He suddenly manifested the Heart of the Dragon to a collective gasp.

“So, you got it back, eh?” Thol congratulated him.

Lola squealed and clapped her hands. “This is spectacular! Now, we can destroy the Essence and—”

“How did you find out about the Essence?” Soleis asked darkly.

His friends shared a look. “You told us,” Lola slowly replied.

“Humph! Imagine that,” he mused aloud. “I must tell you everything. So many secrets hidden in that pretty head of yours. What else did I say to make you so willing to die for me?” He moved toward her, and she half-stepped behind the rebel leader. Putting the hulking swimmer between them made Soleis seethe. Thol cautiously reached out, and he violently swatted him away. “Get back from the stone!”

“Hey! Take it easy!” The rebel lifted his hands innocently. “I think you should get some rest. Your dip in the Pool of Death might’ve had more of an effect on you than you know. Why don’t you let Lola take you back to camp?”

“You’re coming along, too, right?” she interjected.

Soleis snapped, “Why does he need to come along, Lola?” He’s a taker. Nothing else will be taken from us, he thought.

“We’re all going.” Thol blotted his lips nervously.

Soleis chuckled and scratched the dragon tattoo at the side of his neck. Discomfort flitted over his face. He felt tingly and hot, but he shrugged it off and held out a hand to Lola. She looked hesitant to come to him. “We’re all going. See?” he prompted with a tight smile. When she finally reached out, his eyes went to the gold ring encircling her finger. He had a strong, strong urge to…

“Coming?” Thol coaxed.

Soleis tore his eyes away from the ring and smiled more. “Yes, of course. Lead the way.”

* * *

“Get out of my head,” Soleis whispered. Thank goodness the rebel leader and the doctor were too far away to hear his mad rambling. They were talking with an elder about how the Essence might have affected him. Soleis paced in front of his tent. “Come on, come on, come on, Lola. I need Healing. I just want to…Get out and....” The words made no sense.

He shook his head and focused on the world around him. The camp was ordered chaos—children playing, women cooking, men working. The den of construction banged and whirred as new houses were built. It gave him a pounding headache. But, that was the least of it. Soleis grimaced and massaged his temples as memories from the other dead bodies in the watery grave hounded him.

He didn’t know which thoughts were his and which belonged to…someone else. Lola. He needed Lola. His brow descended in a frown when the rebel casually touched her arm, and she smiled tiredly, nodding at something he said. Soleis balled a fist. “Are you coming?” he called in annoyance.

She lost her smile when she looked at him. Soleis didn’t miss how she looked back at Thol for approval or the subtle nod the man gave her. She peeled away from the conversation and marched toward their tent with her head bowed, a wary look on her face.

“You should lie down,” she murmured. She touched his back to usher him inside, but she snatched her hand away with a sharp intake. Her eyes searched his face. Soleis arched a brow, and she forced a smile. “Go on in. I’m right behind you.” She didn’t touch him again.

He threw his sore, tired body to the bedroll, and the contents of his stomach heaved. “I think I’ve been infected,” he admitted. She nodded, a delicate hand to the base of her throat. She didn’t come near him, even when he lifted a hand to invite her to bed. “Will you lay with me? I don’t want to be alone.”

“I’ll stay in here until you fall asleep,” she hedged.

Actually, he didn’t feel alone, and that was what scared him. He closed his eyes as he draped his forearm across his face to blot out the light that entered through the open door flap. “Close it,” he muttered.

She looked at the door like she would rather saw off her hand than untie the string that held it open. Sighing, she did as he requested. As she settled beside him—but not too close—he felt around in the semi-darkness for her hand. Her fingers skittered away, and he chuckled.

“Are you afraid of me, Lola?” he asked. She shook her head. At least, he thought she shook her head. He didn’t open his eyes to see. He only felt her move. He drifted off to sleep before he could get her to answer out loud. She was afraid of him.