Nightbound: Curse of Shadows

2

   The wyvern growled and raked his gaze over the twelve of us. "You're not the real ones. You can't convince me of that. Why would you come back now?"
   "We were captured!" Hurricane said, voice filled with frustration. "None of us remember anything except what our kind is called. We're sky dragons. That's all I can tell you. We aren't hiding anything."
   The wyverns attacked. Kazra and Cyclone, the only real friends I had, were next to each other, defending each other's backs. I didn't know what to do. All I could do was keep myself safe.
   Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an ice spear flying toward the pair of them.
   "Kazra! Cyclone! Look out!"
   The spear flew through Cyclone's chest, and he vanished in a swirl of wind.
   My heart dropped to the ground. That didn't happen. Even death didn't cause people to disappear.
  
   Kazra shouted something I didn't understand. Maybe time was bending and warping around her mind the same as mine.
   Eventually we were able to convince the wyverns that we were real. They were guarding Razerali, the home realm of the sky dragons. The last of the four types of lost Light Guardians. Us.
   Everything was peaceful there. But Kazra was never quite the same, usually in a library reading, but I never could quite figure out what.
   The day after the Shadow Guardians attacked Razerali, she vanished. I know she wasn't captured or killed by them. That same day I was attacked by Araktine and cursed to be a Shadow. I guess I had different things to worry about. But sometimes I wonder what happened to her. And maybe if I could have stopped it.

   Araktine vanished into the trees. The moment before, his golden eyes bored the into me as though he already knew my thoughts. It would be so easy...
   The white wolf stopped. He turned around, and his eyes seemed to pierce my soul, waiting to see what I would do. But it was too late. My claws were dripping red in a moment. The wolf collapsed.
   "I- Shadow-" The wolf choked and his eyes widened. "Sky-"
   I had a feeling he was about to say something about a Shadow sky dragon. But he didn't finish his sentence before the red stain on his white fur spread too far, and the wolf died.
   He was gone. A feeling crashed into me like I'd hit the ground after being dropped from the clouds without wings. I staggered back, shock spreading through my body faster than the blood in the snow. It was sudden. He was just gone.
   I spread my wings and took off, sudden regret twisting my stomach into a knot. A salty taste swirled in my throat. Why did I do that? Why? I killed someone. I felt uneasy. More than uneasy. I'd just killed someone.
   Kieda, kieda, kieda-
   "No!" A voice roared from below, mixed in with sobs. "No! Freeze, no, no, are you..."
   I didn't stick around. Maybe I should have. I found a large, hollow tree. I shifted into my leopard form and curled up inside. I needed to sleep. And I didn't need to dream. Or remember.