SPELLBOUND

Evie and the men all held their breaths as the dragon slowly moved towards the bright exit. They could not really see much as their eyes were already adjusted to the intense darkness for so long that the sudden brightness became extremely blinding to them. It was more so for Evie, as her eyes were not as enhanced as the vampires. Onyx halted just as it stepped out of the darkness.

Evie and her men sat frozen as they blinked to allow their eyes to adjust to the new environment. Once their eyes were adjusted, their gaze were fixed ahead of them, utterly speechless. What greeted their eyes were absolutely shocking and unexpected that it took their breath away.

They had been thinking of another magical place, a place so out of this world. All of them had no doubts that it would be something mind blowing because the dragons were guarding this particular place with their lives for god knows how many millennia now.

However, the place before them was nothing like what they were expecting. It was desolate and gloomy. Yes, it truly took their breath away – in shock that was bordering on horror. It seemed to be a very massive crater and in the middle of it lies another dark and lonely mountain. They could not even get a glimpse of the peak as thick and gloomy clouds were covering the upper half of it, making it visibly impossible.

Not only the mountain, but the entire massive crater-like place was covered entirely with clouds so thick that the place looked like the twilight zone. It was raining too, though it was not that heavy.

Evie's eyes roved about, looking all around the place before her and she felt a peculiar feeling of loss and sadness. There was nothing worthy to note in the vast land, but just blackish grey stones and dead trees. The dead trees seemed to be covered with some sort of black crystals and nothing more. The wide path before them that was made of stones and the large arches standing tall like crescent moons on each side of the path were untouched, but no life seemed to be left in the area that they laid eyes on. There was one word that reverberated within everyone's mind at that moment – bleak.

The feelings welling up inside Evie's heart right now made her draw in a deep shaky breath. She did not even know why she was feeling this way. Her longing to find out everything now surged even more within her insides. What had happened to this place? Was it hit by some pestilence or perhaps some natural disaster that caused it to look this way now? However, it must have been one hell of a disaster for it to remain like this for so long. Evie felt her heart squeeze and throb in pain as she continued to survey the area and her eyes suspiciously burned a little, as though she were about to cry. But she held it back as she thought that it was somehow weird. This was definitely the first time she had ever stepped foot into this place. So why is it resonating so strongly within her?

Suddenly, Onyx released a spine-chilling growl. It did not move from its spot at all – if possible, it froze up even more – as it breathed out a sound that seemed to be call. Evie and the men did not know why but they seemed to have that feeling that it was a call.

Evie and her men held their breaths in anticipation. Then a group of dragons suddenly appeared in the sky. They circled around over them in an awe-inspiring display of power and splendour, injecting more than a little fear into the men as they looked on, some with mouths hanging open. Only Evie managed to maintain her calm façade, though she was as stunned as the men on the inside. As they were still frozen in shock and amazement, the dragons started landing before Onyx one by one. There were seven of them and three of them were as large as that dragon the dark fae had possessed while the other four were about the same size as the one Evie had commanded in Dacria.

Before Evie and the seven vampires could snap out of their reverie from the surprising appearance of seven other additional dragons before them, Onyx then proceeded to spread out its own jet-black wings before propelling itself from the ground and flying into the sky.

Everyone immediately reacted and held on for dear life as the dragon flew just above the large arches, narrowly missing its own clawed feet. When Evie looked back, she saw those other seven dragons entering the dark cave where whey came from. Was Onyx the one who called out to them to stay and guard the entrance to this realm in his place? That must be it! And she was awed, more convinced that Onyx was an intelligent being in his own right. She had already known that dragons were smart beings even before she interacted with any of them. But now with Onyx's actions, she was only more certain of the fact.

Returning her gaze ahead, Evie looked down and saw once again how massive the place was. The path they were following seemed endless. And she did not know why but she suddenly pictured this desolate place as once beautiful and full of life and captivating colours. She could even imagine that everything here would have been enchanting and magical.

As they looked down, they saw that glimmering stream flowing across the desolate land before then disappearing into the wall of darkness that seems to surround the entire place. As they traced the stream with their eyes from this height, they could see that the stream's source was coming from that mountain which they were heading towards right now.

The arches of the path below them were getting larger as they approached closer to the mountain in the middle.

Onyx continued flying straight ahead until at last, it slowly dove to the ground the moment they reached the largest and final arch. The dragon gracefully executed its landing right before the massive arch, without having anyone of the people on its back experience any turbulence.