Maja

Something lived in the Hewn City. It had slept once, and now it crept through the ancient temples it had defiled, slinking through halls and winding around pillars until the marble grew black and cold. Maja knew in her heart that this was the truth: the creature beneath the Promenade was alive, and it was hungry.

There was no truth to be found in the Tangled Wood, however. There was only darkness and confusion as she stumbled over fallen branches or jutting roots. Darkness, and the lingering sense that she was being followed; a flash of color on the edge of her vision, the fluttering sound of wings. Maja couldn’t know for sure. It was too dark to see her own claws in front of her face, and the fog that hung in the air stuck to her fur and made her feel cold and afraid.

It smelled strange, here. In the Academy Maja had been taught that the forest was a sunless simulacrum of her own; The trees were damp and heavy, and traversing the fog was treacherous if not impossible for her kind. Despite what she knew of this place, it didn’t smell like pine needles, like wet moss or muddy riverbeds. It was something heavier, sharper, and completely unnatural to her body. She tried to cough it out, but she could feel it slipping into her lungs, this heavy air that defied any of the wisdom she had been given.

Her coughing fit combined with another well-placed branch caused Maja to fall, landing painfully on her side. Her pearl tumbled out of her grasp and through the forest, disappearing into the fog. She forced herself up in a panic. Her claws were unable to find purchase in the slippery undergrowth, so she stumbled as she chased after her heart and soul. To lose her pearl would be as good as death, and if Maja died her quest would be over before it even began.

She managed to locate her pearl, but it was cradled by a pile of brambles, sucked deep inside the mud. The dragons that had been trailing Maja surrounded her, their forms obscured, hardly more than glowing eyes in the dark. She felt great claws gripping her robes, plucking her effortlessly off the ground.

“No, you don’t understand. I need my pearl. You can’t make me leave it here!” She thrashed around uselessly. “I won’t ask you for anything, I’m sorry, you just can’t.”

The dragon sighed, setting Maja down in the spindly boughs of a tree. She clung to the branch for dear life while it swayed, creaking with the effort of holding something other than shadows in its grasp. The mist was even harder to breathe up there, and so thick that Maja didn’t think she could fly through it to glide down to safety. Her vantage point was useless for scouting as well. The only thing she could make out through the mist was pinpricks of blue light where clusters of mushrooms happened to grow.

Maybe… maybe she could take them. It wasn’t in her nature to start a fight, or to win one, but there wasn’t much choice in the matter. She could blind them with a spell, grab her pearl, and then…

No, if it was a chase, they would catch her. Maja would have to be so brave and awesome that they would be intimidated into leaving her alone, that was it. And the best way to do that was to attack the biggest dragon here. The one that… had easily picked her up and tossed her aside…

Maja folded her wings close to her body, shivering. She had the best grades in her class. She was a brilliant mage in the making. She might not be big enough to use her claws effectively, but she wouldn’t need to. She just needed to have faith in herself. Take a deep breath.

“Here.”

A pair of purple eyes glared at her from the dark, meeting her own despite the fact that she was in a tree and they were not. She jumped, startled from her impromptu battle plans, and felt the branch creak and begin to give way. She scrambled up to the next one, her claws uncomfortably grubby with bark and lichen.

The eyes rolled. The dragon extended a paw, Maja’s pearl safely contained within it. She used her wings to jump from the branch to her pearl, not considering the fact that this would land her straight into her enemies claws- literally. Good job, Maja, best in your class, brilliant mage indeed.

Maja held the pearl close to her chest, her heart beating faster than she was comfortable with. She had almost died, and she wasn’t out of danger yet. Not even close. “I suppose I should thank you,” she said stiffly, removing her backpack and placing her pearl inside of it. She tightened the straps as much as possible, securing it for the journey ahead.

The dragon exhaled, warm breath hitting Maja in the face. It was a welcome comfort from the cold air she was growing used to, but she would not admit it out loud.

“It was a good thing you returned my pearl to me, or else I would have had to kill you,” she continued casually, throwing her backpack back on as if she were not terrified of her current, less than tactical position.

The dragon laughed, and through the forest Maja heard other laughs echo, as if this was all some strange prank played at her expense. Shadow dragons had an odd sense of humor.

“You think you could take me, little mage?” The dragon lifted Maja up to their face, their whiskers brushing against hers uncomfortably.

“This is a little forward, isn’t it Imperial?” Maja said with a huff, puffing out her chest. If there was one thing she had over this dragon, it was unwavering confidence. If she just believed hard enough that she could beat a dragon that was six times her size, then maybe that was the truth. She turned her head away from them. “We’ve only just met and you want to rub muzzles with me? Do shadow dragons have no manners?”

The Imperial laughed again, their eyes softening as they peered unnervingly at Maja. “Tell me your name then, and we will not be strangers. And I will put you back on the ground.”

That seemed fair enough. “I am Maja, of the clan Sungrave. Though I may be small, I am the greatest user of magic you will ever meet.” She met the dragon’s gaze. “I see through your fog of deception, shadowlings.”

“Oh, pardon me. I had no idea I was in the presence of such an important individual.”

Maja got the distinct sense that he didn’t mean it.

The Imperial set her down, bowing his large head before her in a mock kind of politeness. “I am Elsifor, and I would never dream of lying to your greatness.” The Imperial must have had naturally dark coloring, because he fit seamlessly into the landscape, and it was hard to make out anything other than edges. “My friends call me El.”

“Do you not belong anywhere, then?” Maja was suspicious that the dragon would not disclose his clan name. She sat down in the damp grass, her tail curling around her paws. If they were to have a chat, she would rather do it properly.

Elsifor narrowed his eyes, moving closer to her, his head low. “I am a creation of Lightweaver, and yet I am a child of Shadowbinder. Where do you suppose I should belong, your greatness?”

Maja clicked her tongue. “I’m not a fan of riddles.”

“You shouldn’t have come here, then,” the Imperial said, his voice taking on a sinister hush. He began to circle her, his long body making a dark wall between Maja and the rest of the world. “Where is Sungrave? I have not heard of it.”

“It is southeast of here. My home was built on top of an ancient crypt, filled with bones that do not make the shape of dragons. We study them, and the world around us, and… the Hewn City.” She felt it best not to disclose too much of her mission. Maja was starting to believe this dragon may not want her to reach her goal after all. Surely they must understand this was no time to play games. If Maja was correct- and she knew she was- then all the flights were equally endangered, and their closest neighbors would be the first to realize that.

“You have traveled a great distance, then. This little quest of yours must be important, to come all this way.” He continued to circle around her menacingly in slow, silent steps.

“It is,” Maja hissed. “And I would appreciate it if I could continue to the Forum, before I die of hypothermia.” Her toes were growing cold in the dirt, and her patience was thinning.

Elsifor bowed once more, his tail flicking with dangerous intent. “Very well, Maja the great. I will guide you, because you would lose yourself in this forest the moment I left you behind. In return, you will amuse me.”

Maja rose to her feet, shaking off the mist that seemed to press down on her. “How will I do that? By rubbing muzzles with you?”

“No,” the Imperial said with a laugh. “By making comments such as that one. You are… strange. I think I like you.”

Maja had been called worse things in her life, she supposed. If this would get her to her goal faster, it wasn’t such a bad thing, to make friends with a few shadow dragons. She could never fully trust them, of course, and their sense of humor escaped her, but… she was here to make allies, after all. It only made sense.

“If you like me so much, then carry me,” Maja suggested. It would be so much better to be nestled in his mane, her feet touching warm scales rather than the cold earth… not that she wanted to cuddle with the dragon, no, he was carrying her because she was important. That was all.

Rather than protest, Elsifor picked Maja up by her robes again, placing her on his shoulders. “You are very slow,” he admitted. “I will take us to the Forum. But hold on, and don’t lose yourself again.”

She heard flapping sounds in the woods, like dragons preparing their wings for flight. Surely they weren’t going to fly through the trees? They would crash into one, or the weight of the air would pull them down, or- or-

Maja dug her claws into the Imperial’s mane, crying out as he took off, his long sinewy body weaving around the forest as if it were the most natural thing in the world. And then, he lifted his head, and rose up.



When they landed, Maja felt dizzy and weak. Somehow it had grown darker the further inward they moved, and her lungs couldn’t seem to draw enough air into them. When Elsifor set her down she immediately fell over.

“How is our great mage?” Elsifor asked, watching her with no small amount of amusement as she struggled to her feet.

“I can’t see anything,” she admitted. The ground was certainly made of stone, and Maja could detect a strong, foul scent drifting from their destination, but those were the only senses that could guide her.

She felt something warm and soft brush up against her side. “I will guide you,” Elsifor assured her, his large head nudging her along. “Conjure up a spell if you need. They already know you are here, and they will not approach if you stay close to me.”

She wasn’t sure who “they” were, but Maja thought it better not to ask. She was far away from her source of magic, but she drew what energy she had stored inside of herself, casting an orb of light around her body. It allowed Maja to see a few feet in front of her, which was enough to notice the staircase they were going to descend. Elsifor was able to take several stairs at a time, while she needed to take each step carefully, but he patiently waited for her to catch up.

“Why didn’t you just carry me down the stairs?” Maja asked, ignoring the eyes and whispers around her, ignoring the cold and the mist and the dread that seemed to thicken the further she went.

“When a dragon wishes to approach, they must descend the Forum. It’s… tradition.”

Maja slowly made her way to the center, comforted by the dragon at her side. She could feel the shadowlings rather than see them, feel their gaze on her like a physical force. Each step was a chance to decide the words she would use, to reflect on her purpose here and the enormity of what she was going to attempt. It was madness, but it was her only choice. When her claws finally reached the bottom, Maja felt that she was ready.

The moon was full, and bright enough to illuminate the center of the Forum. Maja imagined it was built that way intentionally. The silver glow outlined the firsts few steps, the cracks in the stone, reflected off of dark puddles here and there. And yet an impossible creature stood before her, seeming to absorb all light, a black cutout in the landscape. It writhed and turned, causing more dark liquid to splash out of the basin it bathed in, a few drops landing on Maja’s paw. She resisted the urge to back away, standing as tall and proud as she could muster.

The pool was surrounded by trinkets, tributes to a goddess that Maja did not worship. Scattered around Maja’s feet were hundreds of stray chess pieces, and in the moonlight she could make out a pile of boards. There were some coins and gems, of course, but it seemed that this was not the favored currency of tricksters. Maja wondered if it was possible to rig a chess game.

“What brings my sister’s child to my realm?” The figure’s voice was loud, but rather than the booming, powerful kind of voice Maja associated with a god, it was soft. It settled over her like an additional layer of mist, like it was pressing in around Maja, forcing itself into her small body. The hiss reverberated all around the Forum, as if swirling in a circle.

No eyes peered at Maja this time. Instead, the dragon in front of her watched with empty sockets, weeping with liquid darkness. Everything about the Goddess dripped with mischief.

“I am here because…” Maja swallowed, surprised at how small her voice sounded. She tried again. “I am here because something lives in the Hewn City. Something more dangerous than we know. And I need your help.”

“My help?” Shadowbinder gripped the edge of her pool with a wing, pulling herself towards Maja. More of the liquid sloshed out of the pool, seeping into the stone’s cracks. “What would you ask of me?”

“The thing that lives in the Hewn City… it’s lost, and trying to find a way out. If it escapes, It will not only destroy us, but the flights closest to us. We are all in danger. So,” Maja took a deep breath, her nose wrinkling at the strange scent of the pool. “I need an alliance. I need you to enter the Hewn City, figure out what this entity is, and kill it. Or trap it. Or something. And I… I need a shadow dragon’s aid because it's too dark for any light dragon to see through the fog.”

“Interesting,” the diety hissed. “Very interesting. I have not visited my sister in some time…”

If Shadowbinder and Lightweaver teamed up to fight this thing, it would be over before it even started. This was all Maja could think to do, despite what everyone at the Academy told her. It was worth asking, right? She had to do something.

“So, will you help me?”

She laughed. The Shadowbinder, ruler of this realm, Queen of lies and darkness, laughed at Maja. It was a strange laugh, one that echoed and seemed to change, like a thousand dragons laughing at once. And then she grinned, liquid dripping from her jaws, covering Maja like a waterfall and snuffing out her little ball of light.

“The pride, the presumption…” She swatted at the stack of offerings, scattering them all across the Forum. Maja shrank back, realizing for the first time how insignificant she was in the face of such a powerful creature. Elsifor wrapped his body around Maja, both keeping her from escaping, and reassuring her that it was okay. Shadowbinder snatched one of the game boards off the ground and placed it before Maja, her impossibly large grin widening. “Very well. I will help you begin this great quest.” She paused, and all the shadows held their breath. “If you can beat me in a game.”

Credits: This guide to know basic coding This guide to find assets osiem for dividers and icons Vertigris for flight items/sidebars