Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Lain came to he immediately collapsed in exhaustion. He could barely comprehend his own thoughts, focusing only on his breathing.

Taking in his surroundings, the elf took note that he wasn't anywhere he recognized. It didn’t appear to be the Storm Spire or Silvergrove, or anywhere in Xadia for that matter. The architecture was far too blocky and, dare he think, human.

"I know you're probably disoriented, but you're safe."

The voice was distinctly male, but didn’t hold the authority one would expect. It was clear there was a strain in the voice too, considering the slight rasp it held. When Lain's eyes finally focused he saw the man standing before him. He was definitely human by looking at his apparel and lack of horns. His arms curiously held ancient mage runes, which made Lain double-take at the man’s rounded ears to confirm his heritage. A breath caught in his throat when he spotted a glint of silver.

Before he could get a better look at him, the human was flung backwards onto the floor, causing the object in his hands to clatter to the floor. The elf flinched at the silver staff as the pink gem seemed to stare into his very soul.

"Filthy human! Where are we!? And where is the egg!? The sound of his wife jolted Lain into further coherency. Tiadrin was straddling the one who spoke to them, brandishing her sword up against his neck. The human seemed to have been shocked initially, but quickly gained his bearings.

"I'm friendly! I swear!" He attempted to hold his hands out in surrender, but when both elves flinched away, he drew them back. "We're in my study, in Xadia. The egg was- is safe." He swallowed when neither of them relaxed. "And he's with Queen Zubeia. His name's Azymondias." The name of their queen had them raising their brows in surprise. "You guys have been... trapped for a long time."

Tiadrin growled and hovered her blade closer. "No mind games, human." She hissed. "Who are you?"

"C-Callum! I-I'm a mage!"

Lain shakily moved into a crouch, watching his wife continue her interrogation.

"You dare call yourself a mage when you use dark magic ?" This statement had him flinching as though it were a physical blow. 

"No! I promise you, I'm the good guy! I have every reason to hate dark magic as much you do, if not more , but I had no choice ! It was the only way to extract your souls from the coins." His head fell back with a sigh when the strength in his neck gave out. “Oh man, she’s gonna murder me when she finds out."

“Or I could save the trouble and kill you now , you filthy, lying human !”

He scrambled to make her see reason, forcing his upper body up with a jolt, earning a nick on his chin from the sword pressed there. “Uh, um, N-No! Nope! I would very much prefer having my head attached to my body, thank you!”

“Tia.” Lain rasped, going into a coughing fit.

She seemed split between wanted to check on her partner and keeping the human secure. 

“He got us out .” 

“Or maybe we broke out on our own.”

“ Tia .” 

“We. Can’t. Trust. Him.”

“Maybe not but,” Lain steadied his breathing before going to stand. “Without his staff he’s powerless. Even you you know humans can’t use magic without a power source.”

Callum, realizing their fear, tried assuring them, “You can destroy it for all I care. It was the only way to get you out.”

The moonshadow elf above him gave him a wary glare, a silent warning that should he try anything, she would strike, before bouncing away from him and kicking the staff across the room. 

“I know you have no reason to trust me, but thank you.” Callum made sure to keep his arms spread and in view as he shifted into a sitting position, through some labored breathing. “It’s true I used dark magic to free you, but it’s not something I did lightly. I am not your enemy.”

“Every word from your mouth could very well be a lie . Why should we even listen to you?” Tiadrin hissed.

“I-!…” The man’s shoulders slumped. “You have every reason to hate humans, but please , let me explain! I’m-”

“We have no need to hear more of your words.” She twitched the ear closer to her husband. “Lain, find some rope. We’ll take him with us.”

“Please! Just listen!” Callum’s body started jerking as he coughed roughly into his hand. 

Tiadrin tensed, ready for any tricks he might’ve had in store with the motion. She was surprised when she spotted blood patterned across his gloved palm when he pulled it away from his face.

“Tia.” Lain placed a hand around her shoulder. “ Look at him.”

“What is there to look at?”

“He’s unarmed. Wounded , and alone. With all your yelling, we’d have been swarmed if there were others.”

His wife ground out, “He could be faking it-”

“Tia. He has marriage cuffs on his ears.” Both the woman and mage jumped in place. “That’s not something to be faked. No elf in their right mind would make those against their will or for some elaborate lie .”

Without so much as a warning, Tiadrin stormed over to the human and brandished her sword. “Show me then. Let’s see if that’s true.”

Callum averted his eyes and submissively turned his head and pulled his hair out of the way. The glinting silver reflected the natural light of the room. It was decorated with a few stray turquoise-colored stones, and engraved with not only Elven words, but Katolian, and Ancient Draconic as well. 

Lain had been right. Those were impossible to fake. And that single fact put major doubts in Tiadrin’s initial thoughts towards the mage. 

“Where were these crafted?” Her voice had lost its confidence. She already knew the answer, if the color of the stones were accurate.

“S-Silvergrove. Ethari made them.” Callum held his hands up in defense when their eyes narrowed.

“ Ethari !?”

Realizing his mistake, the prince tried to backtrack, “B-but I enchanted them and put the engravings! I didn’t break tradition! I made sure they were done right. Ethari was only there to correct me every time I did something wrong.” He continued to ramble about how he crafted them with their Elven friend, but the two elves were lost in their own minds since Ethari’s name was mentioned. 

“How long…” Lain murmured.

Callum abruptly stopped. “Huh?”

“How long have we been trapped?” Tiadrin finished, with a defeated, sorrowful croak. “Ethari never would’ve helped you so soon after losing his friends to your kind. And you mentioned something about it earlier. So how long ?”

Again, the man turned his head away, lowering his arms. “It’s… uh, probably a little over a hundred lunar cycles.”

“ No .” Lain breathed. “Oh, please, no .”

“The war between Xadia and humans was ended about ten lunar cycles after you were… imprisoned. There’s been a truce ever since.”

It was clear they believed him, even if they adamantly wanted it to be false. They held onto each other’s arms, seeking for comfort in their partner. 

Tiadrin’s ears suddenly turned down. “A whole ten revolutions, lost to us…”

“I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now, but trust me when I say everything will be okay.” Callum tried to give a reassuring smile, but it ended up twisting up in pain. By now, his breathing was beginning to speed up and hitch uncontrollably. “ Shit .” He cursed, bringing a hand up to his chest. “I used too much.”

Seeing the mage hunch over in pain, neither elf knew what to do.

Callum gasped when his fingertips started to numb. Before he completely lost control of his limbs, he brought up his hands to hover in the air in front of them. Tiadrin couldn’t help but tense and grip her weapon, knowing he was about to cast a spell.

What she didn’t expect, however, was how he etched a moon rune in the air, without any clear aid of a primal stone or artifact.  

“ Nuntius subitus , uxor mea .” The moment the rune was finished, his arm dropped limply to his side, and the symbol vanished in a shimmer of light. “As much as I’d like to catch you up, I think I’m going to faint.”

And then he fell face first into the stone beneath them.

Chapter Text

As members of the Dragonguard, they were true to their loyalty, ready to stand and fight when all others refuse or are unable to. They were disciplined and never showed fear. It was a similar code that they themselves held as Moonshadow Elves. However, in the short time they’d regained their bodies, this one man, this human, had those very defenses cracked and on the verge of collapsing.

Not only had they found out that the dragon prince lives, but that they’d missed so much. If they were to believe the human currently taking a nap with a possible concussion, then a whole decade was lost on them.

“I don’t even know what’s real anymore.”

“Lain…” Tiadrin’s ears were pulled back against her skull. “We don’t even know if he’s who he says he is. We can’t believe anything until we get back to the Spire.”

Her counterpart, who was still wobbly on his legs, glanced back down at the mage. “And what’ll we do with him? Either way he did get us free.”

She shook her head. “If we take him with us, he'll be deadweight. Leaving him here is out of the question. He'll warn anyone nearby of our escape.”

“Tia, I don’t think he’s our enemy. What enemy would risk himself by turning his back on us? Even if he ain’t unconscious he’d still be an idiot for making himself vulnerable to attack.” He went to move to Callum’s side, but ended up leaning against a wall when his knees refused to hold his body up. “He was intimately aware of the marriage customs. He has someone waiting for him in Silvergrove. The least we could do is return him to them."

Tiadrin’s grip on her sword tightened, causing it to shake in the unsteady hold. Before she could get any words out, the double door entrance flung open with a bang. By instinct, the two fell into defensive positions next to each other, covering the other’s weak side, though Lain couldn't keep his steady footing for long.

What they saw though, had them frozen in shock. The elf that had entered was female, and clearly a Moonshadow variety, what with her purple markings and white hair. Midnight horns curved in an ’s’ pattern and held a set of cuffs at their bases. Her eyes grew when she saw the two of them and immediately went to pull out her butterfly knives, but stopped mid swing when recognition flickered across her features.

B-but you’re…”

She trailed off when the man by her feet groaned. “Sur-p-r-i-s-e.” The mage sounded as though someone was sitting on his ribcage and forcing the air out of his chest.

“Callum!” Though she kept her eyes on the two others, she rushed over to kneel by the man’s side. “Callum! What did you do?!” With one hand she poked and prodded to see where he might’ve been injured. “What happened!?”

Though he still didn’t move, he mumbled, completely delirious. “But Rayla, I don’t want the cactus juice…” Rayla sighed angrily and forced herself to ignore the sharp gasps from her parents as she flipped the mage onto his back. “Friendly…mushroom…” His murmuring continued.

“…Rayla?” Tiadrin dropped her sword, resounding in a clang upon impact.

She directed her attention back to the two dragonguard. As much as she wanted to latch onto the idea that they were really there, Callum’s health came first. “What. Happened?” She ground out.

Lain could only point to the silver scepter as he cataloged his daughter’s features.

The younger elf followed his finger and gasped at the fallen object. “Irrumabo! Callum!”

“Hehe. You sound funny when you’re mad Rayray.” If it weren’t for the disoriented speech, she’d have been a bit more worried, but she’d grown used to his sleep talk, and this wasn’t actually that far off from the usual. She effortlessly hefted his body up onto her shoulders. “Time for night night.” And he passed out again.

Rayla turned to her parents and motioned for the door. “Storm Spire first. Catch up later. Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

The journey to the Storm Spire was shorter than expected. Tiadrin would never have guessed a human would willingly live so close to Xadia’s ancient homeland. A mere child could walk the distance without complaint.

Rayla’s always been one to run. The thought came to her without consent, memories of her daughter when she was no higher than her waist along with it. When she dreaded bath nights, and when she’d begged to start training early. Tiadrin hadn’t been against it, but Lain had convinced her that she should enjoy childhood just a little bit longer.

Looking at Rayla now and the way she held herself, the old dragonguard questioned how much had changed. How much of the Rayla we remember is still there?

Her husband must’ve been having similar thoughts, because his hand found hers and gave a reassuring squeeze.

Upon entering the valley, both of them, however, felt as though their breath was knocked out of them. Avizandum’s stone monument stood tall in the center, looking up at the Spire’s peak. The two dragonguard had been told he’d been turned to stone, but they never had the chance to actually see it due to their coined fate. Now that they were standing under his shadow, they were at a loss of words. This was the king they served under for half their lives. The one they swore to protect.

When she no longer sensed them following alongside her, Rayla spoke over her shoulder for the first time since telling them to follow. “Zubeia was against desecratin’ his resting place, so Callum restored him best he could. He stands as a reminder of the circle of revenge, so that it never be repeated.”

Coming to the base of the Spire, they spotted a young sun dragon guarding the path. It immediately perked up and purred at the sight of Rayla, but when its eyes slid to the human's unconscious form, the worry was clear. When the dragon saw the two elder elves and silver staff by Rayla’s side, it let a snarl slip past its lips, a warning.

"Pyrrah." Rayla interrupted. "Can we get a ride up? Callum needs to see the queen."

Without hesitation, it leant down for her to jump on its back, but when Lain and Tiadrin moved to join her, the beast's bright blue eyes narrowed with a growl. After situating Callum in front of her, Rayla gave a short whistle to gain Pyrrah's attention. "They're dragonguard, like me."

A huff was all she got in return, but made no move to scare the elves away.

"You two ever ride a dragon before?"

Tiadrin shook her head, with Lain shortly following her example.

"A word of caution then, find somethin' to hold onto."

The warning came just in time for them before Pyrrah took off into the sky. With each downward thrust of the dragon's wings the force keeping them pressed against its back grew ten fold. Lain ended up resorting to holding his wife with a yelp when they went into a barrel roll. If Tiadrin wasn't still trying to wrap her head around this whole ordeal, she'd have teased him about it.

It was only after dismounting that Tiadrin spoke, "You're dragonguard."

"Aye." The younger moonshadow bid Pyrrah farewell and thanked her before urging her parents to come with her. "Guess I followed in yer footsteps after all." She gave a soft grunt as she shifted Callum's weight.

“Even after we left you?” Tiadrin cast her eyes away, and instead taking in any new additions to the Spire.

The younger moonshadow elf glanced over her shoulder. “Especially after. Moreso when I learnt what really happened.”

Tiadrin and Lain’s posture stiffined. “We left no bodies behind...” “And the rest of the guard ran.”

Rayla nodded solomnly. “We’d all assumed you’d gone with the lot of ‘em,  I decided to prove everyone wrong about me the moment we received the news.”

It was then that they reached the front chamber.

“”Yo, Ray! I thought you said you’d be back at sunset.” The soldier who spoke wore a strange mixture of elvan and katolan armor. Another human then.

“Callum needs to see Zubeia. Is she still here?”

The man nodded, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. “Yup.” He leaned over to get a better look at Callum. “So what did the idiot do this time?”

Rayla sighed, “Apparently he used dark magic…again” Then she hissed, “It damned well killed him the first time go ‘round. And not only that, he used this to do it.” She brought up Viren’s staff.

The soldier shifted uneasily. “He’ll be okay… right?”

“After this is resolved, he’ll be regrettin’ it big time, but I’m pretty sure he’ll pull through.”