by Leela Ash
Cain dropped to the ground and rooted through the bag on his hip for his small pack of rations. He didn’t know how long he had been out there, but it certainly warranted a snack. Cain munched absently on trail mix and jerky, his eyes wandering the forest for any movement.
“Whoa, what the hell?” he breathed quietly.
Above him, the sky was shimmering in colors he had never seen before. He blinked hard and rubbed his eyes, sure that he was imagining things. Before he was able to fully recover from the lights in the sky above him, a woman who looked like she had just walked right out of a dream approached him from the distance.
“You,” she said softly, staring at him.
Cain stared back, raising his blue-green eyes in disbelief. The woman was stunning. It wasn’t necessarily the specific way she looked that struck him so powerfully, but rather the ethereal way she moved and kept her gentle, amber-colored eyes fixed upon him. Her hair was silver-blonde, almost the exact shade of the moon shimmering above their heads, and she wore a gown that reflected the same impossible colors in the sky.
“Who are you?” he asked, trying to summon all of his courage. He had been renowned for his boldness and his bravery all his life, and women had always been oddly attracted to his brazen nature. They considered him an anomaly. A rugged outdoorsman raised in the city, stubborn and a man of his own narrow vision, they surrounded him like flies. But they hadn’t interested him much. What he truly loved was solitude; chances to find himself surrounded by the natural world. No women had held his interest longer than three seconds. Until now.
“My name is Kyna,” she said, her eyes intent upon him. She came toward him, her body more gliding than walking. Was she some kind of spirit? There was something otherworldly about her.
“What are you doing out here all alone at night, Kyna?” he asked, his voice strong, as if he encountered this kind of thing regularly. In truth he was terrified. And enraptured. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous?”
“It’s all right if you’re afraid,” she said with a soft laugh. She stopped walking then and peered at him, her eyes squinted in contemplation. “I sense your fear, but you should know it is unfounded. I won’t do anything strange.”
I don’t think –“
They stared at each other. He trailed off, feeling as if it was impossible to lie to her. That was all right, he usually spoke his mind just as he saw fit. The only thing he was never completely honest about was his fear. But if he was honest about that he would have no way to fight back and face the fears head on.
“Are you hungry?” she asked suddenly.
Immediately, thoughts of the delicious smelling meat flooded his mind and he nodded, almost involuntarily. Was he under some kind of a spell? The mysterious woman smiled, a gesture that lit up her entire face and brought him from his comfortable perch on the forest floor to standing on his feet. He walked toward her, holding his hand out. If he could touch her, maybe he would be able to believe that she was real.
“Who are you again?” he whispered, lowering his hand as he approached her. He felt suddenly silly, but she didn’t laugh at him.
“Kyna. What’s your name?”
“Cain.”
“Follow me, Cain. Dinner is ready to be served.”
He looked around, raising his eyebrow at her as if she were stupid.
“There’s nothing here,” he said, staying steadfastly in his spot. In truth, he was afraid to follow this strange woman into any unknown place. But she had captivated him so fully that he wasn’t sure he wanted her to leave without him either.
“Do you really believe that?” she asked, her face creasing in a knowing smile. He was surprised to realize that he didn’t, and looked up again at the incredible colors in the sky above his head.
“What is that place?” he breathed.
“Come,” she said. And without another word, she began walking into the darkness.
Chapter Three
Kyna led Cain toward the underground tunnels, her mind reeling. She had been waiting outside for a sign when suddenly this man appeared. But he wasn’t just any man, of this she was certain. He was shockingly handsome. He wore his dark hair tied behind his head, and she could sense his power from yards away.
In fact, her entire body had been electrified upon seeing him. He moved stealthily, with grace and a dynamism, like the men from the Kersh clan. He kept her attention rapt to him as he settled in to have his meal, and it wasn’t until he was able to see the lights of Kaldernon that she knew exactly what the feeling meant.
Only Dragon Shifters and Lonis were able to see Kaldernon through the rip in the atmosphere. The man was clearly a shifter, but he wasn’t part of the clan. That much was clear. Still, it was where he belonged, and it would be through him that the shifters and the Lonis would be able to return back to their own world. Kaldernon seemed to be shouting this to her, and with the same psychic surety that had led them to the clan, so too, would this man be their salvation.
“Kyna, where have you been?” Krista asked, her voice gentle, but scolding. Kyna ducked into the hidden entrance. Krista’s eyes widened when she saw Cain walk in after her, his eyes troubled and disbelieving. “And who is this?”
“This is Cain. He will solve all our problems.”
Krista was the wife of the clan’s leader, Clayton, and looked at her incredulously. Still, Kyna knew that Krista trusted her intuition and wouldn’t doubt anything she said to her. The Loni people who had recently arrived to the Kersh clan were very closely attuned to Kaldernon and had an unsettling connection with their intuitive powers that was harder for Lonis like Krista, whose bloodline had been diluted over the centuries, to achieve.
“Are you sure?” she asked, her voice hushed. Before Kyna could answer, Cain interrupted.
“What the hell is this place?” he asked, squinting in the darkness.
“You shouldn’t have brought him here,” Krista finally whispered, taking Kyna aside. Kyna sighed, but understood. Krista was nervous that the outsider might alert the Guardians to their location somehow. Times these days were strained as the Kersh clan awaited what could surely turn out to be a violent retaliation to avenge the death of their leader. Things had been quiet for a few years, but that was a bad sign.
“He won’t harm us or reveal us,” Kyna reassured her, looking deeply into Krista’s eyes. Krista nodded and her reservations seemed to dissolve.
“Still don’t know where you brought me, lady,” Cain said loudly. Kyna sighed, turning to face him. His hands were trembling, but his handsome face was composed. She studied him for a moment. He brushed the dark hair away from his face, waiting for her to answer him. His sea-colored eyes sparkled even in the darkness.
“For dinner, of course,” she said with a composed smile. She gave a respectful nod to Krista before continuing down one of the dark tunnels. She thought he might object to walking through the dark tunnels, unable to see, but he followed her through with ease.
“Would you like some light?” she asked him, turning a corner and walking in the direction of the dining hall.
“I’ve always been able to see in the dark,” he said dismissively. She smiled to herself, wondering if he knew anything else about his unique abilities.
“Here we are,” she said, proudly waving her hand to present him with the dining hall. His eyes widened as the festive décor gleamed with the same colors of her dress. The Shifter and Loni people bustled about, getting their meals and laughing loudly. The room fell silent when people began to realize that Cain had entered.
“Is that…?”
“It looks just like…”
“Everybody, this is Cain. He will be joining us for dinner tonight,” Kyna announced.
The room was silent for a moment as everybody took the man in. Some of the older dragon born were staring at him as if they had seen a ghost, while other younger members of the clan eyed him with suspicion. Cain remained oblivious and sat down heavily at the nearest table.
“What are we having?” he asked.
Kyna smiled to herself. She liked this man. Somehow, he managed to make her smile without trying. He was certainly able to hold his own, no matter what anybody thought of him. And he wasn’t bad to look at either…
Kyna shook the thought away. She was an oracle. Her job was to help this man get in the right place at the right time to help his shifter brethren. There was nothing else to it than that. She had long ago accepted the fact that she would never be able to focus on love. Her tendency toward reveling in her own mind and powers was too consuming.
It was odd for a full-blooded Loni to exist, and she was one of the few women who had been in the group. There had been four Loni men and two women. They were about as pure bred as any of the survivors from Kaldernon, but only Kyna had the ability to divine the future. The others were gifted in other ways, which had allowed them to find mates among the Kersh clan, but most men, particularly the diluted bloodlines of shifter who were just as human as they were dragon, were put off by Kyna, just as she was put off by them. So why wasn’t she put off by Cain? Was it because she knew that he was fated to save them all?
She sat down at the table across from him. The other men had shirked away as he tried to make small talk. The official thing to do was to stay mum to newcomers about shifter blood until an official announcement by Clayton showed it was all right to go on living as normal. The men were tense, waiting for just such an announcement.
“We’re having a specialty from our native land,” Kyna said, fixing her eyes upon Cain. He gazed at her for a moment, staring into her eyes as if trying to decide what to make of her. This in itself was impressive. Most men were uncomfortable when they looked into her eyes and saw their truest selves reflected back at them. Cain was perfectly comfortable with who he was. An honest man, she decided.
“Native land? Are you foreigners? Where are you from?” Cain asked, leaning back in his chair. A woman graciously placed a plate of food in front of him and his eyes lit up. “Thank you.”
The woman bowed and moved on to continue serving the food to the others.
“That is a topic best left for after dinner,” she said. He was almost visibly longing to dig into the food and he gave her a short nod before bringing the first tantalizing bite to his lips. He closed his eyes, relishing in the mixture of flavors. Nothing like what could be found normally on Earth. It was food that had been animated and blessed with Loni magic.
“This is the best thing I’ve ever had,” he said once his plate was empty.
“Good,” she said. “Let’s go somewhere we can talk.”
“All right,” he said with a shrug. He looked sadly at the empty plate and she tried to hide her grin. He was cute.
“What?” he asked, catching her immediately.
“Oh, you just look so disappointed,” she said, surprised that he had been able to read her so quickly. He must have been on high alert, paying attention to this strange place and the strange people who had made their home underground.
“I wouldn’t mind seconds,” he admitted. “But honestly, I couldn’t eat another bite.”
“Nothing is more satisfying than Loni cooking.”
“Loni?”
But she didn’t answer. Instead, she led him through the tunnels once again, until they arrived at her bedroom. He ducked through the doorway and looked around. He seemed surprised by how beautiful the room was without any natural light or windows.
“Take a seat,” she said.
“On your bed?” he asked, his voice tight. She laughed quietly.
“I’ll stand.”
“Um…”
“It’s all right,” she reassured him.
He sat reluctantly, running his broad hand through his hair.
“What do you know about your heritage?” she asked him softly.
“Practically nothing,” he said with a short laugh. “I was adopted. Parents found me in the woods. About two years old, scared out of my mind. My real family must have left me there to die.”
“That’s awful,” Kyna said, furrowing her eyebrows. So he probably didn’t know anything about who he was. But judging by the way he looked and the powerful way he moved and presented himself to the world, his bloodline wasn’t very diluted. He looked almost pure shifter, but that was rare and unlikely.
“It is what it is,” he said with a shrug, though his eyes reflected his pain to her. He didn’t try to hide it, but he seemed eager to change the subject.
“What if I told you I had an idea about where you came from?” she asked, trying to select her words carefully. She could already tell that Cain was a stubborn man, and if she said anything wrong, it might make him think she was crazy.
“What could you possibly know about me?” he laughed. “To be honest, I’d think you were full of shit. We barely even knew each other’s names.”
“Does any of this feel, I don’t know, familiar to you?” she asked.
“Familiar? No, can’t say that it does,” Cain said. “In fact, I think this is about the most out of place I’ve ever felt anywhere in my life.”
“I see,” she said, disappointed. Apparently she would have to reject that route. “Well, I have something to tell you and it might be strange to hear.”
“Stranger than all of this?” he asked, quirking his eyebrow at her.
“Probably much,” she admitted. He smiled and she gazed at him from across the room. He was so approachable and kind. Would it be cruel to introduce him to his true identity when he felt so sure of everything about himself?
“Can I be honest with you?” he asked.
“Of course,” she replied.
“I’m not sure I even want to know. I’ve spent all my life trying not to think about where I came from. I’m happy with things the way they are. What difference is it going to make what I know or don’t know about my family?” he asked. “They’re as good as dead to me.”
“It could make all the difference,” Kyna said, her eyes suddenly serious. Cain looked like he wanted to say something, but he decided against it. “In fact, you’re far more special than you could ever believe.”
“I don’t know about – “
“You belong here, with us,” she said, suddenly walking toward him. She could feel her self-control slipping as the urgency of the situation consumed her. He was the only way out of this underground prison. Her people – his people – could find liberation if only he could come to terms with his identity. Their fate was in his hands, and the truth suddenly bubbled forcefully from her lips.
“You’re a dragon shifter!” she said, unable to keep the train wreck of words from coming out of her mouth. “You can help us get back home.”
Cain stared at her incredulously for a moment and then lowered his head. She couldn’t see his face as his shoulders began to quake. She worried that perhaps she had unleashed a flood of painful memories, but when he finally looked up, a cackle pierced the room. His eyes were certainly watering, but it was from the effort of holding back his laughter.
“I don’t usually want to make fun of pretty girls like you,” he said, standing up. “But that’s about the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t know what a dragon shifter is, and I’ve certainly got nothing to do with them.”
He stood up from her bed and pushed past her, into the dark tunnels.
“Thank you, though, for dinner. It really hit the spot.”
“But – “
Kyna started toward him but Cain raised his hands defensively in front of his body and backed up toward the doorway. “I can see my way out.”
Her face fell in disappointment as she watched Cain’s back disappear in the dark tunnels. What was she going to do now?
Chapter Four
Cain moved as quickly as he could through the dark tunnels without running. He didn’t want anybody to realize how freaked out he was. All of those people had seemed strange, and looked at him as if he might be some kind of a monster. What was their deal? And why in th
e hell were they living underground so near to the city?
He emerged into the fresh air and looked back at the entrance in disbelief. He never would have known this place was there if that woman hadn’t shown up and taken him in. What had her plan been? What was the point in trying to feed him such a ridiculous crock of shit?
He shook his head, glancing up at the sky one last time before he left. The lights were still there, shimmering and as beautiful as ever. What did all of this mean?
Cain sighed. Whatever it meant, it was crazy. It was time for him to head back to civilization, where people didn’t live in caves and lure strangers in to eat odd meals and tell them ludicrous lies. He wasn’t living in Hansel and Gretel for fuck’s sake.
But something about the woman’s eyes had troubled him. She didn’t seem capable of lying. Maybe she had deluded herself. People could believe their own lies. It happened all the time. It was a shame that someone so beautiful had turned out to be such a character. Still, it was unsettling.
Cain set off through the woods. His legs felt leaden and unsteady. Should he tell someone about the group of loons living in the forest? That would account for the lack of game in this region, that was for sure.
He walked for about an hour when he suddenly heard voices in the distance. Male voices. Masculine and capable. They sounded comforting; like-minded. He wondered if he should warn them about the crazy people living underground. He was still debating it when three tall men emerged from the brush. One stared at him, his chiseled but kind face examining him closely.
“Kalden? We thought you were – “
“That isn’t Kalden, Clayton,” the man beside him said, touching Clayton’s arm gently.
“No, an imposter. A look-alike.”
“That’s impossible,” Clayton said, approaching Cain.
