Prologue
Deep in the farthest corner of the cave, ice was dancing.
Tiny shards, glinting silver and blue as they spiralled upwards, spreading their beams of light to slice away the thick darkness. They toyed with the light as they climbed, bending it, twisting it constantly to push out their intense sparkle.
Never once did they show signs of melting. They remained suspended, captured in their dance, perfectly preserved by the dragon that walked within their midst.
She glowed as brightly as her ice. Her scales mirrored the pale blue shine, forever shifting with thousands of pooling lights. Her eyes were closed as she focused, seeing not as herself but as the shards that surrounded her. Her soul was what formed the light within them and powered their endless twirl.
She lost count of how much time passed as she remained that way. Days, years, decades - it was all the same. The dance whisked her away and kept her frozen. The cave hid her from the world, so that only the ice could see her faint smile.
Until the voice sounded.
The dragon's smile fell. Her eyes shot open, and her ice halted in its dance, crashing to the ground all around her. The beams shrank, so that only the pale light from her scales could battle the encasing darkness.
The ice's clatter was a mere whisper compared to the sounds that now echoed about the cave. Huge steps, reverberating throughout the rock, shaking the cave in a way the dragon of ice's silent walk could never achieve. And a voice, distant but fierce and loud. Too far away for words to become recognisable, but enough for their speaker to become clear.
Breath caught in her throat, the dragon leapt from her corner of the cave, bright eyes sweeping the darkness. Throughout her dance of ice, the cave had remained beautifully cold; a comfortable chill she had grown used to. Now, her icy scales detected heat in the air, weak but with the strength of a roaring fire rippling within.
The voice shouted again, closer, and the heat intensified. Heart racing, the dragon threw her head back and yelled, "Calor!"
A chilling pause followed. Then came the response. "Glací?"
"Yes," the ice dragon said. She moved forward, taking another delicate step, spreading her faint glow as far as it could reach. "Where have you been, Calor?"
It was not Calor's voice that replied.
As the echoing steps thumped closer, Glací's light caught a flash of something unnatural. Something that did not belong in this cave. Instead of forward, she shifted backward, her heart twisting in a frantic dance of its own.
Another dragon emerged from the darkness. She was far larger than Glací, so much so that her head scraped the rock that formed the ceiling. Her scales were as dull as the cave's grey stone, but far thicker, plating her back like armour. As she shook the dust from her snout, spines as long as Glací's tail collided with a protruding stalactite, sending it plummeting downwards.
As it thumped to the ground, dangerously close to Glací, she flinched.
"I will allow you plenty of time to catch up later." The grey dragon's voice was like thunder to Glací's sensitive ears, vibrating with deep growls that made her icy scales shudder. "First, you deal with me."
Glací's eyes still roamed the darkness beyond, but the huge dragon filled so much space that it was impossible to see past her flicking wings and countless jutting spines. This place wasn't intended for such creatures. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.
"How did you pass our trials?" she said eventually, reluctantly turning her gaze upwards to fix on the dragon's head. She had a stinging stare; a garishly bright blue that forced Glací to squint. She wished for only the dark and her own soft light for company as before.
A smile cut a crevice across the dragon's snout. Wordlessly, she swung her tail, curving it so that the spines upon it pointed downwards to mirror the stalactites above.
Glací gasped, her breath a sharpened icicle. From one of those spines hung a dragon.
A red dragon, with scales like rubies. With him so close, the clouds of heat had grown to scorching levels, as if he were a stream of flame himself. But he could not release that flame. Ropes coiled around his snout, identical to the ones that pinned his wings to his sides. His distant shouts had been his last chance at escape.
"Calor," she whispered, the name so quiet she doubted any but her own ears could grasp it. His eyes stared back at her, brimming with silent pleas.
After a moment, she tore her eyes away, staring up at Calor's capturer. She deserved a glare, but it wasn't in Glací's nature to give her one. Reaching out her senses, she felt for the other inhabitants of the cave, but they were too far away to be of any aid. She could only free Calor alone.
"You used him," she said, answering her earlier question. Her claws slid away in another backward step. After a deep breath, she attempted to summon some of the fierceness she was sure Calor was willing her to use. "But how? Calor would never help an outsider to enter our sacred space, nor would he allow himself to be captured."
The dragon's sharp blue eyes narrowed as the cracked smile spread wider. "Let's just say I... caught him at a bad time." She let loose a deep, rumbling chuckle, rolling with echoes. "And found a certain weakness."
Glací's scales were shaking so much that she could hear the gentle tinkling as they knocked together. Her eyes flicked to Calor, conveying an apology. "What do you want?" she asked.
Another laugh shook the cave. "I want your power, ice dragon."
Slowly, Glací shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't offer you that. Only dragons who pass our trials can receive such a gift."
"I passed your trials, did I not?" The grey dragon bent down, her head looming closer. "I would not be here otherwise."
"With Calor's aid," Glací protested.
"Ah yes, Calor." The dragon flicked her tail from side to side so that Calor swung wildly in his bonds. She raised him higher, all the way to the ceiling, eyes fixed delightedly on his bound wings. "We wouldn't want anything to happen to poor Calor, would we?"
"No, that would be a disaster." The words slipped from Glací's snout automatically.
"Then I offer you a trade." The dragon's tone dropped even lower, if such a thing were possible, the growls rising to the surface. "Give me your ice powers, and I will give you Calor. I will never bother you again." She idly swung her tail. "If you don't, however... well, Calor will be mine to deal with."
Her eyes glowed their harshest blue yet. "And I'll find a way to take those powers myself."
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