The Night My Shadow Disappeared

It all began the night I lost my shadow.

Prologue – Black Forest

Moonlight dappled the clearing, laced with dew. The stars glinted coldly; one giant constellation connected by the thinnest gossamer thread.

In the middle of the clearing, a pale-red she-dragon was sitting elegantly. Her bright-blue eyes were fixed on the moon.

There was a crunch of leaves behind her, but she didn’t break her pose. Then, slowly another she-dragon slithered forward behind her, with scales of ebony, and eyes of cold hard smoke. This she-dragon wasn’t all that majestic, but she radiated authority. This she-dragon had obviously survived many battles: her snout was slashed several times, her left horn had snapped in two, and her right wing was torn. She was the general of the Viper-Tooths, one of the many dragon-tribes.

“Oh, marvelous,” she hissed, her voice cold, sharp, and clear. “It’s Sky-Jewel again.”

“You decided to meet with the Storm-Claw tribe today, Night-Star. So I’m the representative,” said the pale-red she-dragon, soft and misty.

Night-Star bristled. Smoke writhed around her horns as she bit out every word behind gritted teeth. “Very well, then,” she growled. “This is what my clan wants me to say: I heard your border was ruined by the humans.”

“Yes,” said Sky-Jewel amiably, with a hint of sadness.

“Well, we – I, especially – don’t remotely care about what silly border got ruined or whatnot if it’s not ours,” barked Night-Star.

“This is the problem: it’s not just you or me who will get obliterated. The entire dragon-race will if we don’t protect our home fast,” said Sky-Jewel calmly. “We are in a war with the humans; the humans think they should be the only species on earth! Our world will be soon gone.”

Chapter 0.5 – Ellen

I sat, transfixed, at Father’s feet. I had heard the story of how he lost his right hand in a fight with a black dragon many times, but something just captivated me, every time. He waved his right arm-stump animatedly, painting the picture with his words.

“Just after I slashed the dragon’s snout – which was already pockmarked – the dragon chomped my hand, and swallowed it right down that monstrous throat! I did not cry out, but bravely picked up my fallen sword in my left hand, and charged again, and managed another slash at the dragon’s snout before narrowly avoiding a blast of flames as the dragon roared in fury and took off into the air!”

Mother looked up from rolling dough. “Adryan,” she said seriously. “It’s not proper to tell Ellen about dragon-attacks at such a young age.”

“She’s not that young, though,” protested Father. “She’s 12. She must be ready to know what she’s up against in case dragons come to raid us, Faye.”

Mother sighed, wringing her hands.

Chapter 1 – Ellen

“Hey, Mother,” I said, as I started brushing my teeth that night. “My belly feels weiiiiird."

“Did you eat my pills? I’ll call Adryan.” She hurried off.

I was starting to sigh…then…something very peculiar happened abruptly.

As I stared at the wall, my shadow twitched…but I hadn’t moved. Then, to my absolute fascination…my shadow started to melt away before my eyes…and my head went first, then arms, stomach, legs…and I was…GONE.

I didn’t know how to react. Eyes wide as saucers, panic struck me in an overwhelming wave. I remembered an old saying Mother used to tell me, the moral to some old story about creation.

If you don’t have your shadow, you can’t exist in the human-world. The last darkness to your light is your undoing. The Creator God formed humans so they would always have the last weakness. The Creator God blessed us so that we would be aware of our mistakes.

Then, as if possessed by a dragon described by Father, I felt something almost…pulling me towards the front-door. My limbs twitched, and as I strained, I started to...move.

I walked calmly out of the kitchen, the door, and my garden.

My heart pounded as I pushed with all my might, fighting to extricate myself from this mysterious force.

What am I doing?

Panic held me in its arms as I ventured into the forest. Where am I going?

I walked on.

Then, I reached a cave.

And I heard…voices.

And one of them was hauntingly familiar.

The force pushed me in. And I couldn’t believe what I saw.

“…Edward!?” I breathed.

My twin was there, and he was sitting on a blue-eyed large golden dragon.

Chapter 2 – Ellen

I screamed. The dragon screamed.

Edward stared back at me; eyes so huge I was afraid they were literally going to pop out of his sockets.

My lips were mouthing wordlessly, trying to paint the unpaintable, but my voice had died with the sight of Edward and the dragon. I wanted to scream. I wanted to plead, to shout, to cringe, to run, to fight, to cry, to let the caresses of unconciousness whisk me away until my eyes could properly see again. My vision slid in and out of focus. The dragon was there. The dragon was not. It flickered back, head cocked, eyes pooling with fright.

Like a human.

No. I cursed myself. How dare I think that. Like a vicious, primitive dragon, a failed experiment of the Creator God. Our servants.

A whimper trembled into the air. Edward never whimpered. Was it...the dragon? My eyes blinked, but the dragon was still there, cowering before my eyes like a baby.

Only humans can whimper, I promised myself. And no dragon can ever take that from us. No dragon will ever take anything that we can do as the lord of animals.

“Please, don’t,” Edward's voice begged softly. It seemed like a hollow cry from far, far, away. “I can explain!”

My voice suddenly released, as if something had been holding it clenched the entire time and had now loosened its grip. But I wasn't going to bow to any magical thing, especially if it was...a sneaking suspicion crept into my head. I dismissed it. No, no matter what it was, I wasn't some toy to play with, to let it speak only when wanted. I refused to speak.

Then, something brushed against my mind, flaring around me. Horrified, I mentally recoiled, flinching in real life as well, withdrawing and blocking anything from my mind. This thing kept reaching forward as I retreated inside my brain. It emanated annoyance as it beckoned enticingly. I kept backing away into the depths of myself. Eventually, it lost patience, and the other conciousness reached out and snared me. My thoughts suddenly felt invaded by another sense. Another...being.

Then, my mouth opened, and what I was thinking spilled out like a dam breaking. "I...I don't know what to make of this!!! What's going on! Why are YOU! On this dragon? How dare you? I'm going to report you to Mother and Father will kill him! So let me leave immediately and tell me what's going on! And let me tell you that I am being incredibly nice for these stupid circumstances! WHO. IS. THAT????! WHAT'S. GOING. ON????!"

He sniffed. “It’s a she,” he said, calmly (the pure audacity). “Ellen, this is Honey-Jewel. We’re…friends.” Then…he told me about how he had adventurously explored the forest when he was eight, and had fallen off a cliff, and this ‘Honey-Jewel’ had saved him. This time, I willingly opened my mouth again to scream until I couldn't scream him down any more...but then, suddenly, my voice seemed to be stuffed down my throat as the other sense (which had since left me alone), reached out and seemed to wrestle my words down again. And then the dragon, which seemed to be immobile before this point...nodded. (I wanted to wail in frustration and indignity – how dare this dragon! – , but couldn't.) Edward nodded back. Then, he took a deep breath, and said the craziest thing I'd ever heard in my entire life (except for that one time where Edward went to school and came back with a crazy sentence kind of rule his teacher's shirt had said: I before E; except when your foreign neighbor Keith receives eight counterfeit beige sleighs from feisty caffeinated weightlifters. Weird.): he was allowing this Honey-Jewel to ‘kidnap’ him to the dragon-world to help end the war!

“No!” I barked immediately, utterly flabbergasted by his idiocy. “You go, I go.” I glared at Honey-Jewel, who winced.

“Alright then,” he snapped defiantly, glaring right back. “Then, you’re coming, with us.”

Then, suddenly, he grabbed me, as Honey-Jewel leapt into the air, and hoisted me onto her back!

I screamed out my fright and shock.

Then, blackness.

Chapter 3 – Edward

Honey-Jewel was still lecturing Edward. He gritted his teeth. “Honey-Jewel,” he said. “This is so my sister can realize what dragons are, too!”

“Perhaps,” said Honey-Jewel. "If that, I hope you're right about it." She flew on. He allowed himself a tiny smile. Honey-Jewel was like that. She always was above her pride to announce that she might've been wrong.

If only I could be that way.

Edward’s eyelids were sticky with sleep. “Honey-Jewel?” he muttered blurrily. “Can…I…sleep?”

“Sure!” she said. He stopped fighting, and he sank onto her neck as his stomach plummeted out of the sky into a sleep without dreams.

Several hours later, he awoke to shouting piercing the air.

My sister is awake, he sighed, forcing open his eyes.

Ellen was kicking and flailing on Honey-Jewel. “Let me go, you…you…”

“Ellen!” he pleaded. “Will you please calm down and let me explain!”

Her eyes were pools of an emotion he couldn’t quite read. Fear? Hurt? Slowly, he told her about everything from the beginning, all the way up to now.

When he finally finished, Ellen’s eyes had grown so wide, he was worried they might just pop out of her head. “So…,” she said slowly, as if she was trying to slow the stream of thoughts. “You’re telling me…THAT-IT-WASN’T-DRAGON’S-FAULT-AND-NOW-WE’RE-BEING-KIDNAPPED-FOR-THEIR-CAUSE!?”

He back-pedaled quickly. “Nonono,” he said. “That’s…most certainly not it. I’m choosing to go of my own free will-”

“Well, I’m not!” she huffed. “You are going to bring me back to Mother and Father right now!”

He just rolled his eyes. He didn’t know what to say anymore. “Well,” he grumbled, “If you’re not going to offer consent, then I guess you are going to be kidnapped!”

And just like that, Ellen shut her mouth. He relished it, except for to the point where it would've been petty. It was so hard to make her shut up.

With her not screaming, floating serenely over the countryside was pretty enjoyable. The clouds were sometimes so close, he could reach out to skim them: fluffy, slightly wet, almost like cotton-candy.

The sky beamed its precious sunny smile overhead, and the rolling hills trundled pleasantly over the smooth green plains.

Sometimes, Edward would look over at Ellen, and sometimes, she’d be glaring daggers sulkily back at him.

Not my problem, he shot back silently. I know this’ll be worth it.

And then…

He heard it.

Terrible, horrible, screaming filled the air.

Chapter 4 – Ellen

The screams hurt my ears, filling them with despair.

“What…is…that…?” I muttered, distracted from my petulant and justified sulking.

Honey-Jewel’s eyes were wide with…fright? “No,” she whispered. “Not now…”

“What?!” I demanded. She flinched.

“It’s…a battlefield ahead,” she whispered, eyes filling with tears (I mean, assuming dragons have enough emotion to cry, and my eyes aren't playing more tricks on me, of course). “Humans against dragons.”

Panic pooled inside my stomach, sloshing around and threatening to pour out of my mouth. “Is my father there?” I asked abruptly.

“I…don’t know; for your sake…I hope he’s not.”

Frustration blended in with my feelings. One thought shone out to me.

Why?

Why was this all happening? What had I done? Nothing, I growled to myself. I don’t deserve this.

But I couldn’t. Not when Father could be down there, possibly being ripped apart by dragons.

“Land!” I shouted over the roaring wind. “Father could be there!”

The truth seemed to dawn on him. “Honey-Jewel,” Edward said. “Can…we dip a little closer, to see who’s in the battle?”

Honey-Jewel scrunched up her eyebrows. “Ooh…bad move, Edward,” she warned. “We could get shot.”

At that point, I couldn’t hold it anymore. “It’s not your father! You don’t understand, dragon!”

Honey-Jewel flinched, but before I could chew her out any more, Edward turned to me. “She understands,” he said quietly. “She’s just worrying for our safety.”

Honey-Jewel sighed. “Alright,” she whispered, and then she flew for the ground. She crept slowly, and hid behind a large-boulder a few yards back to watch the fighting.

Shock and pain vibrated up through my bones. My eyes hurt badly from watching the scene. People and dragons all fighting, bodies and blood littering the battlefield. Cries and howls of pain, but none of triumph. Humans were annihilated by blasting fire and dragons succumbed to volleys of arrows before my very eyes.

Scarlet-red, searing, pain.

My eyes were blinded with tears of the scene.

I realized what Edward was trying to protect.

This would soon take over the world.

Not my world, I swore.

Chapter 5 – Ellen

“Is Father here?” I asked anxiously, tugging on Edward’s arm.

“I…don’t…think so,” he answered carefully. “Actually…no, he’s not.”

I blew out a sigh of relief. “Let’s go,” I whispered, heart-worn. My body felt injured and drained just from watching. I slowly climbed onto Honey-Jewel, followed-by Edward.

We flew on in silence, the sorrow hanging in the air, even miles after the battlefield.

“Ellen,” Edward asked meekly. “Now, do you realize…?”

“Do I realize that you’re the craziest brother ever?” I finished affectionately. “Then, yes.”

He looked surprised. So did I. Why had I said that? I guess I now understood…something…I hadn’t before, and I’d forgiven him for teaching me the lesson.

We flew on.

Later, I remembered I needed to ask him something. “…Edward,” I said. “Why did my shadow vanish, anyway?”

“Oh, because,” he said, “I let my shadow vanish…you must get rid of your shadow to cross into the dragon-world. Since having a shadow is a defining characteristic of a human, the dragons have booby-trapped the entrances to the dragon-world so anyone with a shadow who attempts to fly past the invisible barrier will be killed. Father told you about how entire armies marched toward the dragon-clans' land and were found later, with their bodies littering the ground. And then, Honey-Jewel asked me, 'Do you have any family members who are very similar to you, biologically and ethically?' And I said, yeah, you, and then she told me that then your shadow would most likely vanish too. And then I said, 'Can we bring her?' And Honey-Jewel said why not. So she used magic to make you come. I was only pretending to be scared...I didn't want to seem too normal at the start. Not until you realized what I was doing.”

“My guess,” said Honey-Jewel, “Is that because you two share so much similar blood, that you’re linked together. ...I don't think the humans understand what shadows truly symbolize. Not you, but each person's individual Achilles' Heel, their other half. So in some cases, if two people are connected by blood and share the similar values enough, their shadow might vanish if the other's does, too. Am I right?”

"Actually," I admitted. "I think Edward and I are pretty similar on many things. We even look like a matching set of dolls."

We flew on.

A few hours later, I realized I wasn’t finished. “…Edward,” I said meekly. “I’m…sorry about…how I was, before…I realize now…I…that dragons…they’re…”

“No need,” interrupted Edward. “Who knew witnessing a battle for five seconds changed you so much?”

I bumped him playfully on the shoulder.

But deep-down in my heart, I knew it wasn’t the battle that had changed my opinion. It was the truth in everything there – the fear and worry embedded into each dragon/human’s figure. I knew now that battle wasn’t to prevail. That things such as this should always be avoided – that war wasn’t about glory, but about terrible suffering and pain. And deep-down, I knew that it was the human’s fault.

It was time I addressed that.

Because I did, a huge weight lifted off my shoulder, and without warning, I just fell face-first onto Honey-Jewel’s back, into the sticky pond of deep sleep.

Chapter 6 – Edward

Edward put a hand comfortingly on Ellen’s sleeping head. She had handled revelation much better than he had anticipated. He understood the full weight of the world in a few years. She just had one day.

He gripped Honey-Jewel’s horns. “Honey-Jewel,” he murmured. “Where are we going?”

She jittered nervously in the air. “I…I don’t want to…tell the Storm-Claws yet…about…sneaking out for a few years. So…I was thinking we’d land in the Storm-Claw-Camp just before bedtime. I…was thinking we’d deal with confessions later, in the morning.”

“That sounds good,” he muttered blurrily.

“We’re almost there,” she said comfortingly. “Hold out a little longer.”

Edward wrenched his eyes open and yawned, but stopped halfway as he realized what was in front of him.

An assortment of little lights dotted the forest below, the leaves whispering.

“Are we there?” he whispered excitedly.

“Yes,” said Honey-Jewel. “I think you should wake your sister.”

He did. Ellen rolled over. “Father…” she muttered. “I just had the best dream ever…nice dragons, and Edward’s been sneaking out for years to visit them…”

“Ellen,” he interrupted. “…Guess what? The dream’s real.”

She jerked her eyes open, embarrassed. “Really? Oh…”

“And guess what? We’re landing in the Storm-Claw-Camp right now!”

She bolted up. “Really?” she said, her voice ragged with excitement.

Honey-Jewel swooped, and touched down on solid ground.

Immediately, a hunting-horn sounded, and several dragons burst out of the foliage. Edward quickly pulled Ellen down, out of sight behind Honey-Jewel's outstretched wing.

“Honey-Jewel?” said one voice, incandescent with joy. It was a pale-red she-dragon with bright-blue eyes.

“Sky-Jewel?” Honey-Jewel ran forward, and embraced her sister.

“Who’re these humans?” asked a jade-green dragon dotted with black flecks gruffly.

“Calm down, Forest-Runner,” soothed Honey-Jewel. “It’s…the ‘kidnapped’ humans.”

“Great!” chimed in a third she-dragon, this one with silver scales dotted with black flecks. “You did it! Should we take them to our king?”

“Um, Moon-Runner…I’m really tired…so can we talk to Storm-Striker in the morning?” asked Honey-Jewel nervously.

“Hm,” said Moon-Runner. “Nope – gotta talk to Storm-Striker about these puny humans-”

“Ahem,” said Ellen, poking her head out from behind Honey-Jewel's wing. “We’re right here.”

Moon-Runner looked baffled, then shrugged. “Let’s go.”

She led the way into the Storm-Claw-Camp.

Edward’s mouth fell open. Little (on a dragon scale, of course) straw dragon-huts dotted the huge clearing, twinkling with lights, and in the center…a majestic mansion made of smooth-stone pillars and marble rose up to meet the heavens, with a spiraling staircase accompanying it from the lowest level to the tippy-top.

He stared, in awe, as he walked numbly into that very house.

He was nearly blinded by a flash of golden light as he entered. There were slickly-polished wooden floors, and neat marble arches for ceilings. In the center was a throne made of larimar, and on-it sat a majestic glittering diamond-white she-dragon.

“Hello,” she purred regally. “I’m Queen Star-Striker. As my husband, King Storm-Striker, is out for these few days, how may I help you?”

Sky-Jewel stepped forward. “My sister, Honey-Jewel, has gotten two human-captives, children of General Adryan.”

“Amazing,” she said dryly. “Well done indeed Honey-Jewel. Now, you are dismissed – wait, oh, I’m afraid not. Storm-Striker has said that if any humans turn up, their presenter should bring them to the nightly meetings with the other dragon-clans. Tonight, we are meeting with the Viper-Tooths. So, Honey-Jewel, you will be done when you survive General Night-Star, alongside your human-captives, of course. Dismissed!”

Honey-Jewel bit her lip, and Edward sighed. When will this be done? he yearned.

I have to take matters into my own hands, he realized.

“Excuse me,” he said carefully to Star-Striker, who immediately glowered dangerously at him.

She hissed softly. “A human daring to speak to me? What makes you think you are worth my time? You have one minute of me. Use it well.”

“Um-Honey-Jewel’s-um…really-tired…and-I-think…maybe-she should-rest-and…uh, another dragon will um-bring-us-to…um…”

She narrowed her eyes. “It looks,” she said, “Like your relationship is more than a captive-and-captor…but whatever. We’ll deal with that later. But no. Honey-Jewel is representing us tonight. Go.”

“Hey!” shouted Ellen. “Don’t you care about your dragons, you pile-of-icicles?”

“Shh,” he said, tugging her arm. “She does – let’s go.”

She glared at him and Star-Striker as he pulled her out of the building.

Chapter 7 – Ellen

Riding through the dark forest was full of silence, the pit in my stomach. One question lay in the air between me and Edward.

What will the other dragon-clans be like?

And what did Star-Striker mean when she said “survive General Night-Star”?

And what mess will this cake turn out to be?

We reached a clearing, the moon shining overhead, the grass laced with dew. And there, a black she-dragon with many battle-scars was waiting there; radiating authority and annoyance (she looked remarkably like the dragon that Father's recent tale had described. But whatever; that wasn't important).

“Finally,” she hissed coldly. “Another Storm-Claw representative. Who are you? Of course, you know me, General Night-Star.”

“I’m…Honey-Jewel,” said Honey-Jewel meekly.

Don’t be intimidated, I willed silently. She’s nothing but a dragon.

…Ouch. Sorry, Honey-Jewel. I…didn’t mean it that way.

“Honey-Jewel?” Night-Star growled. “Any relation to Sky-Jewel?”

“…She’s…my sister,” said Honey-Jewel.

Which was obviously the wrong thing to say, because Night-Star glared. “Oh no, another one,” she snarled. “All you dragons from the family of Jewel are infuriating. You-are-not-worth-my-time!”

“Hey!” I yelled impulsively. “Leave her alone! You’re the one who’s worth our time!”

She stared down her snout at me; the glare threatened to melt my face. “A human!?”

Honey-Jewel intervened before I shouted her ears off. She told Night-Star about the Storm-Claw plan. When she was finished, Night-Star was so mad that steam was curling around her horns. Deep in her nose, we could see a bright yellow heat kindling in the nostrils.

“You did everything I told you not to do!” she roared. “Now the humans will be out for us!”

I bit back a retort. I wanted to be more like wiser Edward. What would Edward do? An image flashed into my mind. When we were five, I had stolen his ice-cream, and ate it all myself. Him steaming with rage, then taking a deep breath, and devising a plan.

“No, they won’t,” I said firmly. “I’m a human; I know. We’ll change their minds like Edward and Honey-Jewel changed mine.”

Night-Star thrust her face right-up in mine. “If not,” she hissed. “Then you’ll be the reason the world fell apart.”

After the rather chaotic meeting, Edward and I were invited to stay in the palace guestrooms, with Honey-Jewel. I snuggled into the top row of the bunkbed.

“Hey,” murmured Honey-Jewel sleepily. “You’re in the dragon-world now, so it’s safe to reform your shadows. I got them for you.”

I looked up in surprise, to see Honey-Jewel holding two limp shadows in her jaws. “You get back to sleep, while I magically return your shadows,” she muttered.

I sank back into the quiet underwater-ness of deep sleep.

Several hours later, I awoke, and glanced to the wall. Sure enough, my shadow was resting peacefully.

I am intact again…

But the dragons and humans of this world are not.

Bloody battles ravage the land, our bodies, and our souls.

Someday…

Someday, I hope we’re good enough to end the war.

I hope we can make peace between the two sides.