Archive of Our Own

Callum had performed dark magic only three times in his life. Why was it that those three experiences seemed to choke the goodness from his soul and haunt every dream he dared have?

The first time had been to help Rayla defend Pyrrah. The second time had been to kill that jackass sea captain that dared call himself ‘free’. The third had been in an attempt to imprison Aaravos and save both worlds. Callum was both proud and ashamed to say that while he hated using dark magic, he had never regretted it. Yes, he had told Rayla continuously that he regretted ever dirtying his hands with the foul practice—but he didn’t. Not when he had been using dark magic to do the right thing. Callum could tolerate every strand of dead hair so long as it wasn’t his loved ones that turned cold and white.

However, Callum wasn’t an idiot. He could do the math.

Three times using dark magic; three primal sources learned; all three learned within a week of cursing himself.

He hadn’t told anyone his hypothesis. The only person he could imagine telling would be Rayla, but he didn’t want to burden her with that knowledge. She always found him in the courtyard late on moonlit nights studying her magical origin. “You’ll get it, my love.” She’d feign for his lips only to plant a kiss on his nose. “No one in the world works as hard as you to understand. No one in the world is more understanding. No one in the world is as clever, or as kind, or as pure.” She’d hold him in the light of the moon and soak in her arcanum with him comfortably wrapped in her arms. “No one in the world is you, Callum…”

He would never tell the love of his life that when he said he didn’t think he'd ever understand the moon arcanum he had evidence to back it up. Not with that hopeful look in her eyes.

~

“I have a good feeling about today…”

Callum opened his eyes when he was awoken by someone else’s instruction. He sat up and stared out the window at the moonless night. Rather than be drawn in by the quiet love of the sky, he was sucked in by the black void. Darkness closed in around his neck. Panic lingered like fog in his head, only overshadowed by a growing rage.

“Callum?” Rayla turned over slowly, likely woken up the second she felt his distress. He hadn’t yelled out, (at least he didn’t think he had), but she still looked worried. “What’s wrong, moonlight?”

He didn’t deserve to be called that. Callum didn’t let himself relax into her comforting hold like he desperately wanted to. He leaned past her hug and grabbed her shoulders tightly.

He never fully heard himself stutter the words; “I need you to knock me out.”

She gave him a long, exhausted blink. “Excuse me?”

He doubled down, reaching over her and grabbing her butterfly blades off her nightstand. “You heard me.” She just stared as he pushed the closed blades into her hands. “Come on! I woke up and I need to finish the dream!”

Rayla sat herself up and cleared a spot next to herself for her boyfriend. “I would like to know what’s going on first before I clock you? Was it really that good of a dream?”

The rage and the panic were playing tug of war, but rather than work against each other in his mind each emotion fueled the other. “I— no! It’s not—“ this was taking too long. He stood up, stormed over to his desk, and started peeling through the papers and books and ingredients lining it. “Do I really—? Augh!” He didn’t have much for actual magic here besides his spell book, so he ripped it open and started scanning through. Longevity. Clarification. Consistent rainfall. Persuasion. “Sleeping spell… sleeping spell… how do I not have a—?”

“Love?” Callum jumped when Rayla’s hand landed on his shoulder. He had forgotten she was there. “What’s wrong?” Her voice had lost all playful cadence from earlier.

“I—“ Callum refused to look at her and kept scanning through his spells. His best idea at the moment was to perform a spell and steal his own breath, but he wasn’t sure how to even start that. “I don’t have time to explain. I have to—“ he struggled to inhale. Had he figured out how to take his own breath by accident? “I have to— have to go back to sleep— I need to know— need to know…”

Four fingers grabbed the hand that was rifling through the book. Another found its way beneath his shirt and started rubbing icy-circles into the skin of his back. “Breathe. Breathe, Callum, breathe. It’s okay, just breathe for a second then I’ll help.” Callum’s vision refocused and Rayla pushed him down into a chair. She transitioned from rubbing his back to caressing his upper arm, spreading winter in her wake. “Can you hear me?”

Callum fumbled for words. For a hazy moment, he thought he was staring at an angel, here to collect his soul and keep him safe forever. “Your hands are fucking freezing.”

Rayla, likely seeing that his panic had passed, artfully sat in his lap and wrapped her arms around his torso. Her head rested on his shoulder and she made a point of winding her hands back under his shirt for maximum cold. “It’s annoying most of the time, but right now I’m glad.” One came to rest on his neck and the other found the small of his back. “Do you know where we are right now?”

“I’m fine, Rayla. I— we’re in our room, and I’m fine.”

“Good.” She paused. A silver braid floated in front of Callum’s eye. “What the hell was that about?”

And the moment was ruined.

Callum was almost tempted to lie and say nothing, but Rayla wouldn’t have bought that even if he hadn’t begged her to hit him a moment ago.

“I saw him again. Dark Callum.”

Her grip tightened. She wasn’t even trying to hide her anger.

“Did you tell him to go suck an egg?”

“Yeah… I think that’s the problem.” He shuddered. Half of the dream was clear in his mind, but the other half was fuzzy and confusing. “He asked me how the book was going and I told him to leave me alone. Then, he said ‘fine, sorry for trying to help.’ And started to walk away. I tried to chase him and I heard him call me a naive, blinded fool.” Beyond the real life implications, this had been a scary dream. The void closed in as he chased his twin into oblivion. “I think he teleported or something, because he was right in front of me and he grabbed me and said ‘if you aren’t useless, you’ll ask for help.’”

In the dream, Callum had taken his lighter counterpart’s hand and pressed something into his palm. Callum realized it was there now. How it got there; he had no clue. He nearly mentioned it to Rayla, but some inexplicable apprehension caught his tongue. He would at least find out what it was before it was taken away to be destroyed.

“Then, he kept walking off into the darkness and he woke me up to keep me from chasing him.”

‘I have a good feeling about today,’ he mocked.

Rayla lifted her head to look him in the eye. “He can do that?”

“Yeah.”

She got quieter, “and this wasn’t like the other times?”

There had been other incidents in the past 3 years. Sometimes Callum would look into the mirror and see himself with white hair. Other times his twin would linger at the sides of his nightmares, patiently watching the stars. Those occurrences were more likely the results of PTSD than premonitions.

But this was different.

Rayla started rubbing his back again. “Can I ask you something else?” Callum wanted to respond verbally but could only muster a nod. “Was Claudia there? In your dream?”

Callum’s worry caught. “No, she wasn’t there.”

Rayla sighed and kissed just above his eyebrow. “Then I wouldn’t be scared.” Her anger began to creep up. “Unless that dickhead imposter is somehow working with her, then he can’t do anything to hurt anyone.”

He tried to take comfort in her words, but two inconsistencies stuck out.

Dark Callum had given him something, proving that he could damn well do something outside of their little void, and after all of that Callum wasn’t convinced his opposite was trying to hurt him.

‘Trying to help…’ he had said.

Callum gripped the collar of Rayla’s shirt.

“Do you think you can go back to sleep?” She whispered? He shook his head, staring at the blank night sky beyond the window. “Do you want to talk anymore?” Another head shake. She paused to think. “Would you like to go get a drink? Something warm and comforting or something alcoholic, up to you.” He finally refocused on her lilted joke, smiling at his perfect partner.

While putting on their slippers, Callum slipped what Dark Callum had given him into his pocket. It was small but weighted, carrying a smooth surface and subtle energy.

A later problem if Callum had ever heard of one.

Rayla led him out the door and into the lit hallway. At the top of the first stairwell Stella teleported onto Rayla’s shoulder and made them both jump.

“Stella! Where have you been, we’ve been worried sick,” Callum lectured. He had forgotten about Stella’s existence entirely.

“I wasn’t worried.” Rayla kept leading the trio down the steps.

“Really?”

“She’s four inches tall and can teleport, I feel bad for anyone who tries to steal this little baby,” she ended with a little coo, stroking Stella’s head with the hand not holding Callum’s.

They reached the base of the stairs and had taken half a step onto the navy carpet when Ezran called out.

“Callum!” Ezran ran around the corner and Zym was tight on his heels. Bait and the glow tads, (they had technically grown into young glow toads, but they would always be the babies), were riding the king dragon’s back like he was a horse.

Ezran plowed into Callum with a hug. “Stella told me you had a nightmare about Dark Callum. Are you okay?”

Callum groaned at Stella. “Snitch.” Rayla giggled and pulled Stella into her hand to chastise her, but it just ended in more cuddles. “And yes, Ez, I’m fine.”

And he had been fine—shaken but safe—when he had said that.

But then his own shadow laughed. “Quite the family you have here,” he remarked. “Would you really do anything to keep them safe?”

Callum’s hug turned into a death grip as discomfort settled in his nerves.

“Callum?” Ezran looked up at him with the childlike wonder he still hadn’t lost as a sixteen-year-old king.

“I don’t think it’s over yet,” he thought aloud.

Callum heard the unsheathing of metal behind him. He turned and looked at Rayla’s not-so-subtly drawn blades, wondering when she had grabbed them. The light shined off of the blades like it did her silky hair.

Something awful clicked into place and his vision began to swirl.

Rayla.

‘Quite the family you have here.’

He felt Rayla’s cold grip on his back even though he could see both her hands on her weapons.

‘Trying to help…’

Rayla.

He felt the guts of a dead caterpillar wither in his dirty palms.

‘Would you really do anything to keep them safe?’

He hadn’t regretted getting himself hurt, just the possibility that he may have hurt his family.

‘Do you really want to die a naive, blinded fool?’

Rayla.

—hadn’t he done it every time to protect Rayla?

‘If you aren’t useless—‘

The object in his pocket felt heavy.

‘—you’ll ask for help.’

…

“Callum?”

Rayla had one hand on his shoulder, staring straight through him with concern. Ez was still wrapped around his waist, and he looked so small even if they were almost the same height now. Callum looked back and forth between them without moving his head, before settling on Rayla.

“My love?” She asked so gently that Callum nearly broke.

But he didn’t. He just reflected on his earlier words. “I have a bad feeling about today.”

~

As Head of Magical Business in Evrkynd, Callum had a full schedule nipping at his heels every day. He could typically deal with the busy work and take pleasure in his job, but today he couldn’t even begin to imagine starting on meaningless tasks.

He went to the department of Magical Happenings to put in for a sick-day, only to find that a certain counselor had already requested his services for the day.

Callum approached his little brother’s office and knocked curiously on the already open double doors. Ezran smiled to invite him in.

The office was decorated with Katolis’s old colors, gold on red. It would never be as big as the king’s throne room or the chambers of the previous high council, but Ezran said he liked it that way. It was more welcoming to visitors. Ez’s desk sat directly opposite of the always open doors with a literal red carpet leading up to it (Soren’s idea.) To the left was a small sitting room setup that Ezran had his guests wait in. To the right was a mini-library with three shelves surrounding the strategy board from his old chamber. Zym was curled up beneath the table, silently watching Callum walk.

Ezran was wearing the reading glasses Callum had enchanted for him on his last birthday. They let him read for longer without getting a headache. The massive bay-window behind Ez let Callum see the disgusting grey clouds outside. His brother kept the overhead light of his office turned off and it would have been dark in the space if not for Bait’s gentle glow. Bait was sitting next to Ezran’s paperwork and looking it over as if he understood every word.

Callum stood in front of the desk and ignored the weight that speaking to his brother in this setting held. “Good morning, Councilor Ezran.”

Ezran’s wise and patient look dissolved from his face instantly. “Ew, no. Never call me that again.”

“Why not?” Zym asked. “That was awesome and you should always make everyone call you ‘supreme ruler’ always.”

Ezran pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, Zym, I don’t even like it when Xadian diplomats refer to me with my title on official business.”

“Well, you did officially request me for the day,” Callum smirked, “councilor.”

Ezran gave him a tight smile. “Yes, and as your boss for the day, High Mage, I order you to call me anything but Councilor.”

“You’ve got it, Sir Fartmonster,” he said with the straightest face possible. Ez stared at him, but a smile managed to surface through the professional exterior. “So, what did you need me for?”

Ezran didn’t say anything. Instead, he gestured to the couch in his sitting area beside the fire. One of Callum and Rayla’s sleeping pillows had been stolen and Ezran had used that and two soft blankets to make a bed. The end table had a mug on it with steam gently floating above.

Callum’s shoulder’s fell. “Ez…”

“Callum, you woke up at two this morning and never went back to sleep.”

“Neither did you,” Callum refuted.

“I have a consistent sleep schedule and I didn’t have a nightmare. I’ll be fine for the day. I want you to get some rest.” He looked at Callum so pleadingly he almost caved.

Almost, but Callum couldn’t take a day of rest today even if he had wanted to.

“Ez, I checked with that powder in my office. Whatever happened in my dream cursed me.” Ezran’s face crumbled into one of betrayal. “It isn’t a bad curse, it should be gone by the time the sun falls if I checked right.” His brother still looked furious. “What?”

“Were you planning to let anyone know you were cursed?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, if I didn’t fall asleep at dinner tonight I planned to let you guys know. It just didn’t seem worth uprooting your day for something small.”

Ezran stepped around his desk and wrapped Callum in a hug. “Callum, you’re the world’s most overprotective brother. You would have wanted to know if something was wrong with me. And I want to help keep you safe, too.” Ez’s grip tightened. “Both of our parents are dead. I love all of our friends and they are family, but we need to look out for each other.” He stepped back. “Please sit down and rest. If you can’t sleep, take the day to relax and read or something.” The counselor looked down and dug his toe into the carpet. “And please stay. I want to keep an eye on you.”

Callum looked back at the couch setup. The chairs had been moved slightly so Ez had a perfect view of the couch from his desk. Callum looked back at his little brother. Worry lines creased his young face and he watched his brother with far too much fear.

“Ez—“ he took a breath “—I know you’re worried, and that’s fair. But honestly I need something to distract me right now. I don’t know if I can just…sit here, with everything on my mind.”

Somewhere beyond the window, a drill Sergeant yelled. Callum glanced at the courtyard and watched Rayla pace back and forth between her newest Dragon Guard recruits.

“Can I tell you the truth?” Callum felt his voice break in a way it hadn’t in years. Ezran looked at him with empathy.

“Of course.”

Callum stepped back to start pacing the room. He watched Rayla outside the window and felt sweat threaten to fall down his brow. “I think something might happen to Rayla. With what… what he said last night, I think I’m going to be put in a position where I have to defend her.” Quite the family you have here. “I think he was trying to predict that I would use dark magic today and every time I have used dark magic, it’s been for her in some way.” Would you really do anything to keep them safe? “I want to keep an eye on someone too.” Ezran watched him with quiet contemplation on his face. “What do you think?”

Ezran turned and looked out the window at what Callum was watching. The line of rookies had broken up and were dispersing across the training yard. “It’s right outside your window,” Callum tacked on. Ezran gritted his teeth.

“I would really rather have you stay here and rest…”

“I won’t do anything, I’ll just sit on the side and watch.”

“I don’t have the best view from my desk…”

“You can stand at the window and watch me the whole day like a creep. I won’t say anything.” Callum had him on the edge, he knew he did.

Ezran rounded his desk and sat back down, readjusting his reading glasses. “Promise me something.”

Yes! “Anything to make you feel better.”

“No magic.”

Callum’s jaw dropped. “What?” He exclaimed. “But that’s my whole thing!”

Ezran clicked his tongue and gathered together a stack of papers. “That couch is really comfortable you know…”

“Fine. No magic.” Callum crossed his arms. “I’ll just be a dumb regular human…”

“And Zym’s going with you.”

“Oh come on! You’re sending a spy.”

“Actually,” Zym interjected, “I’m not a spy because you know I’m watching you. I’m more like a babysitter.”

Ezran burst into laughter and Zym was sending off small shocks. Callum just rolled his eyes and grumbled.

“Whatever,” it was just for the day, “we’ll get out of your hair.” Callum looked at Ezran’s messy desk and smirked while his brother laughed. “Just let me— me— ah—Achooo!”

Callum shot out the biggest wind burst he could without drawing the rune and successfully scattered all of Ezran’s paperwork.

Bait let out a furious grunt from Ezran’s lap where he had landed. Ez and Zym looked around the messy room in shock as paper fluttered past their faces.

“Callum! No magic!”

“What are you talking about?” Callum spun on his heel to leave, stepping over several important looking documents. “That wasn’t magic, just an intense sneeze.” He reached the door and turned back to deliver one last shit eating grin. Ezran had a stapled packet sitting perfect across his head and face, leaving only one wide eye and his open mouth exposed. “Let me know if you need anything, councilor.”

He nearly made it to the first staircase before Zym came running after him. The dragon king was laughing obnoxiously as they got further from the open doors.

~

“Keep it up, soldiers! Remember your reason for being here as you grow tired. We fight for our kingdom, for Xadia!”

Callum hadn’t seen any of Rayla’s training sessions in the last year, but apparently she was brutal. He believed it.

“Oh, what is that, Everes? I’ve seen blind, drunk pirates with a better handle on their swords!” She stepped between the sparing pairs in her own combat gear, watching every soldier seemingly at one. “Panolsky! Keep your stance steady! Strength means nothing if your enemy can sweep your legs out from beneath ya’.”

Rayla reached the end of the line and finally looked up from her students to Callum and Zym. “Callum!” She ran over and planted a kiss on his lips before he could register her presence. “What are you doing out here? Don’t you have mage-stuff to do?”

“Oh—“ Callum started, only to be cut off by Zym.

“Ezran gave him the day off, but then kicked him out when Callum sneezed and trashed his office,” he broke off in little snickers. “It was awesome.”

Rayla kind of half-nodded. “I see.” Callum smiled awkwardly.

“Yes, and since I can’t sit with Ez, I was wondering if I could watch your training session?”

“Oh.” Rayla’s face slowly shifted to a raspberry hue. “Of course. You two can sit just over—“ she scanned the courtyard and pointed to the raised platform by the equipment “—there. Enjoy yourselves.”

She darted back into the sparing soldiers and called for a stop, much to everyone’s relief. Her cadets came to attention in the line Callum had seen before and she began to address them again. “Soldiers, we have an audience for the shit-show you seem to think is adequate training. Please turn your attention to the Dragon King and High Mage.” She gestured to Zym and Callum. “While it may seem as if I am the one in charge of your training, it is really Azymmondius you answer to. Our duty is to serve the Dragon King; protecting not only him…but what he stands for. My parents died protecting him years ago, and I wake up every morning knowing I would do the same in a heartbeat.” Rayla had paced closer to Zym and Callum during her speech, dropping into a humble kneel towards the end. She waited a moment before standing and looking back at the wide-eyed cadets. “I asked you earlier to remember your reasons for being here when you grew tired. My reason for being here is to defend not only the peace that this young dragon represents, but my friend, Zym.” She spun back around to look at Zym, who somehow wasn’t turning to dust under the pressure. “Zym, do you have anything to say to your loyal soldiers?”

Zym stood and cleared his throat as best as he could. “Rayla, quit pandering. You don’t need to kiss my ass, I like you just fine.” His tone was far more playful than his words. “As for the rest of you: I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to each and every one of you for your incredible service. It warms my heart to see elves and humans alike coming together to help protect me, even if it is a touch humbling.” He laughed through his nose. “Please understand that no matter how much of a hard ass your teacher may be, she is proud of you and so am I. Each of you has an unparalleled reserve of skill and the idea that so many wonderful beings would use that skill to make the world a better place gives me hope for the future of Xadia and Evrkynd.” Zym turned back to Rayla. “I wouldn’t want to take up too much of your time. As you were, Commander.”

~

Both speeches had been good, but Callum didn’t feel nearly as inspired as he should have. The idea of Rayla giving her life to protect someone made him dizzy, even if his concern was incredibly hypocritical.

The practice had shifted to one-on-one sparing with the other trainees watching and commenting on mistakes. Rayla had set up a loose competitive bracket and told the cadets that the winner would receive a special prize.

“What’s the special prize?” Callum asked her during a break.

“The winner and I will duel at the start of practice tomorrow.”

Callum couldn’t hide his confusion. “So the prize is you’re gonna murder the winner in cold blood?”

Rayla shrugged and took a swig of her moonberry juice. “I think it’s good to show the cadets both how far they have come and how far they have to go. And I think seeing me spar one of them will help me seem less larger than life, if that makes sense.”

“I don’t know.” Callum took the juice out of her hand and took a drink for himself. “It makes sense, but murder is still wrong, isn’t it?”

Rayla started laughing so hard the cadets gave her nervous glances. They looked scared of her even when they were getting water. She settled down and took her drink back. “I love that you’re here today.” She took his hand and took another sip. “But, can I ask you why you aren’t up in Ezran’s cozy office? It’s cold out here.”

Callum quickly recalled his earlier lie. “Ez kicked me out for sneezing too hard. I thought it was an overreaction, but he did seem pretty fussy this morning—“

“I know he didn’t kick you out, Callum.” He raised an eyebrow at her, silently asking for more of an explanation. “We talked about it while you were getting ready.” Rayla let go of his hand and set her finger on his bicep. “I was going to give Soren my practices for the day and hold you down in the bed until you rested, but Ezran said he would keep you in his office.” She trailed her fingers up his sleeve and traced little circles on his neck, pointedly avoiding eye contact.

Callum sighed and chose his next words carefully. “You guys don’t have to worry about me like this. I know I scared you last night—“

“You shook me awake at two am and begged me to knock you out.”

“—but I can handle myself.” Rayla looked like she wanted to interject again, but Callum didn’t let her. “And I will come get help if I need it. I’m not a stupid teenager anymore.”

Rayla reclaimed her arm and crossed both over her chest, still holding the juice. “You aren’t?”

“No, I’ve matured.”

Something tragic came over Rayla’s face. “So, you won’t be willing to dumb things with me…like before?” Her voice was something pouty and playful that Callum couldn’t ignore.

“Well, I’m still a little bit stupid… I mean—“

“You want to stop being stupid with me?” Rayla batted her eyelashes and Callum felt himself melt.

“Never…” he responded automatically.

Rayla leaned in and never broke eye contact until he felt his eyes shutter. He went for the kiss but where he expected to meet his partner’s lips he kept moving, beginning to fall forward.

“Alright everyone, break’s over! Get your asses back on the field!” Rayla shouted an inch from his ear. In the shock Callum opened his eyes. Rayla bonked him lightly on the back of his head and displaced his tedious balance. He careened forward and flapped his arms wildly to try to catch himself.

He spun around to shout at Rayla, but couldn’t bring himself to do it when he saw her blow him a teasing kiss.

Sources, he was in love.

And that only scared him more.

~

Rayla’s class of rookies ended at noon, though it was hard to see the sun through the miserable clouds.

Well, miserable to everyone aside from the sky mage and archdragon of the sky.

Raindrops began to fall on the next class but Rayla told the soldiers to quit complaining about the drizzle. She told Callum and Zym they had free rein to “shoot these sissies with lightning if they dare keep bitching about a half a piss’ worth.”

Zym stood eagerly and began to pace the lines with Rayla. Callum looked between Rayla and the cadets anxiously. “Is that such a good idea with the rain?”

Zym looked appalled. “Don’t go poking holes in it, Callum! I was getting bored.”

“They can take it,” Rayla grunted solemnly.

Callum shrugged and pushed himself off the raised edge. “If you insist.” Rayla was about to start leading them through their drills when Callum remembered his brother’s threat. “Ez banned me from doing magic until I slept, so maybe…”

His partner rolled her eyes at him, not a hint of underlying fondness to be found. “If you’re going to be a baby about it, go sit with Ezran and sip tea while he does paperwork. It sounds very monotonous and domestic, you’ll love it.”

Callum rolled his eyes and watched as the soldiers went to grab their bows. A few of them brought out targets on Rayla’s instruction. Callum could tell from her stance, (arms on her hips, settled comfortably on her heels), she was proud of the dragon guard and what they were creating. He rubbed his finger past his twitching nose. Callum was proud of Rayla too, how could he not be? She was incredible.

His nose continued to itch until a sneeze finally bubbled its way up. The after feeling made his throat feel tickled and gross.

Rayla snapped around with an assassin’s swift grace. “Callum.” Her eyes were hardened in disappointment.

Callum started to cough to clear his throat, but stopped when he realized that would only make his situation worse. “Uhm, allergies?”

Rayla’s blink was slow and unimpressed. “When’d you develop a rain allergy?”

He smiled and laughed awkwardly. The cadets began their shooting practice. “These things happen.”

Rayla timed her steps towards him with her words. “You’re getting sick because you slept like shit and now you’re standing in the rain.” Her hand found his shoulder and twisted him towards the nearest door inside. “Inside, now.”

Panic grabbed at his throat and he turned back to her. “Rayla, I’m fine. I need to—“

“Need to what— protect me?” She didn’t sound mad, or confused. Rayla scooped up Callum’s hand and held them close to her chest. “You can’t hide your worry from me, Callum. I know you too well.” Her eyes were nothing but patient, words nothing but understanding. “I’m fine, I have the literal dragon king out here with me. We’re in the courtyard, nothing can happen.” She glanced at Ezran’s office window. Callum was almost surprised he didn't see his brother standing there watching. “Go sit with Ezran and take it easy. I’ll call out if I need help and you smash through the window with your bird wings.” She let go of one of his hands and scratched his wet hair. Callum closed his eyes and let himself focus on the comfort rather than his concern. Rayla cupped his cheek and gave him a little kiss. “Okay?”

Callum answered thoughtlessly. “Okay.”

Rayla smiled in a way that was warm but still a tad cheeky. “Okay, go drink some tea.”

She left him there, (with a second of lingering hesitance), and went to reclaim the practice from Zym. In the time she had left, he had become a tyrant and everyone was doing pushups. One tough looking man was sobbing. Callum listened to Rayla shutting it down until he was inside.

~

The doors of Councilor Ezran’s office were closed.

Callum should have let that bother him more.

Instead, he shrugged off the lasting dregs of fear he felt for Rayla and knocked. After a moment of receiving no reply, Callum opened the door himself. He had assumed Ezran was in the restroom and had left Bait in charge. But no, his brother was sitting in his chair and talking to two unfamiliar men.

Ezran let his stiff, professional demeanor waver when he saw Callum. “Hey! I thought you were with Rayla?”

The other two men twisted to watch Callum. One was spindly with a large pair of glasses, looking somewhere left of Callum. The other had his mouth pressed into a thin line beneath his bushy mustache, clearly upset about the interruption. Both had fake looking hair and wore stiff suits.

“Oh, she sent me back inside when it started raining. I’ll go find somewhere else to sit.”

“No, no! Stay. You are invited to stay here.” Ezran’s voice was fast. Too fast.

“Actually, kid,” Mustache man looked back and forth between Ezran and Callum, “we’d prefer if this meeting was held with the proper level of confidence. Random mages shouldn’t be able to listen in.”

Callum cleared his throat. “I am not a random mage, I’m his brother.”

Mustache Man wheezed as if Callum had been trying to make a hilarious joke. “His brother, well then. Doesn’t that change everything?” He turned back to Ez. Bait started growling but Ezran was quick to pull him into his lap. “Look, kid. This ain’t how adults do business. You want our business, right?” Ezran nodded hastily. “Then send your big brother away.”

Ezran ran a hand over Bait’s back, something Callum recognized as a soothing motion. “Callum, I’ll see if Soren or Corvus or Terry will sit with you.”

Mustache chuckled breathily again. “Your brother need a babysitter or somethin’?” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at Callum.

Callum came forward and stood behind the two men. Of course, they knew he had moved because the one with the glasses had been watching him since he came in. Well, watching something over Callum’s shoulder. “Ezran, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me—I feel much better.”

“Then do you mind leaving us alone until we finish up here?” Ezran’s voice came out even, too flat for his hyper little brother.

“Who even are these guys?” His composure was slipping. Ezran was clearly uncomfortable. “You never mentioned you had a meeting today.”

Ezran’s smile returned a little. “They’re representatives of Neolandia. Another kingdom is considering publicly supporting the union of elves and humans!”

Oh.

Of course Ezran was pretending it was fine. In his perfect little brother’s eyes, the greater good was more than worth a few moments of his own suffering.

But apparently these odd men couldn’t take a win when they got one.

The bigger one snapped. “What part of confidentiality do you not understand?” He pinched the bridge of his nose, still watching Callum. “Look, kid—“

“Councilor.”

Mustache turned to Callum so harshly his chair moved with him. He nearly towered over Callum even while sitting, and now that Callum was closer he could see that his hair was dyed brown, not natural. Someone had done a shitty job on that. “What did you say?”

“You are not speaking to a child, you are speaking to a Councilor of Evrkynd and the former king of Katolis.”

Mustache leaned back heavy in his chair, throwing his hands up in frustration. ‘Good,’ Callum thought, ‘I’m not the only one who’s mad.’

“What the fuck is this guy still doin’ here, ‘Councilor’?” His tone was blatantly mocking. “I thought you were serious about this shit, but maybe my buddy and I should pack up and leave,” he elbowed his friend. “What do you think, huh?”

“Wait no!” Ezran stood and reached out the hand that wasn’t holding Bait tightly to his chest. He stared at Bait with a clenched jaw, likely thinking through his panic. He looked up and a fire had been ignited. “Callum, leave.”

Ezran pointed at the door and left no room for interpretation. But Callum wasn’t hesitant, he knew he could not leave his little brother alone with these creeps.

“Ezran. You don’t—“

“You interrupted an important meeting and you are being asked to leave. Get out before I ask security to help you find the door.” His breath was ragged, but Callum didn’t think Ezran was as angry as he must have thought himself to be. Callum knew Ezran was scared because one: he was a great brother, and two: Bait wasn’t glowing red, he was green.

Bait was scared.

It was a shock Zym hadn’t shattered the window and electrocuted the skin off of these two men yet.

Callum made eye contact with Ezran—perfect little brother who deserved none of this—then at the two men causing him this pain. He looked at Mustache Man, staring the councilor and the mage down in turns; and to his silent accomplice, whose eyes were impossibly facing both of them at once, (the split reminded Callum of a lizard.)

Then, Callum saw an out. The flaw with these idiots’ plan to hurt Ezran.

He ended the staring contest and put his hands up in mock surrender. “Fine, fine Ez, I’ll leave you to do your business stuff. Sorry to interrupt.” He turned and walked slowly towards the door, feigning a calm composure and hoping these liars would buy it. He stopped halfway there and pointedly faced away from them. “But may I ask these fine gentlemen a quick question?”

“For the love of— what in the shit do you want to ask us?”

Callum turned with a smile too coy for this delicate situation. Anger broiled within him and rather than try to be smart about this—

—he wanted to play with his prey.

“Why’d you dye your hair? I mean, I get it—“ he twisted his fingers through the poliosis-affected strands of his hair “—not everyone can rock the white like this. But if I don’t cover up the fact that I’ve ‘dabbled in the dark’, why should you?”

Callum expected the room to explode instantaneously, but it stayed quiet for just a moment longer. He bounced innocently on his heels and watched these idiots panic.

Ezran was holding Bait so tight he started to turn purple. “You guys are…” he looked between the two of them—wordless for once.

Luckily and unluckily, both men watched Callum like owls. Their heads were tilted in an eerily similar fashion and neither seemed to blink in that moment.

Mustache Man grunted. “You really think you’re smart, don’t you?”

‘And wry,’ Callum wanted to add, but a mass was barreling towards him faster than he could spit it out.

He dodged more artfully than he thought himself capable of. Mustache Man stopped himself before the doors and snarled wildly at Callum. Before his eyes, this once composed business man melted into something darker—not a man but a beast corrupted by dark magic. His tie unraveled itself and slipped to the floor; his face greyed and eyes darkened; and his mustache slipped off as if it had been a sticker.

The beast charged again, but Callum did not dodge. He waved his arm through the air and felt the pull of the sky around himself. Ezran yelped behind him and Bait: The Pet Flash Bang fought back in the only way he could, but Callum focused on the crackling warmth of electricity along his arm.

“Fulminus!”

The beast was not shot backwards into the wall like a normal person would have been, but he did screech in pain and stumble in his progression. The next time it looked up, there was an unprecedented anger spilling across his broken features.

But it would never compare to Callum’s at that moment, because Callum was planning to kill these creatures that planned to harm his brother.

“Terra-stipula!” Vines shot out from the plant Ezran kept by his fireplace. The beast attempted to dodge but the strangler vines wove themselves around his wrists and ankles. Callum did not command them to trap his neck, but it was a nice touch and Callum couldn’t deny that he enjoyed hearing the beast choke.

Wait, what?

Before he could think it over, the formerly mustached man snapped the vines holding his left hand. Callum acted fast and pulled the vines in until the beast was sitting in one of Ezran’s fancy chairs. It didn’t look as comfortable for the creature as Ezran had intended when he bought the furniture. “Oceana-auquiforus!” While it struggled to free itself, Callum pulled water in from the damp air outside. At some point the window must have been opened. He flooded the water around the chair and lifted it into the air. Without a moment to spare, Callum launched the creature across the office and through the closed double doors. He stalked into the hall and watched the soaked behemoth break the last vines holding him upside down in the chair. Several guards clustered around the mess.

“Back off!” They had to go help Ezran, “this one’s mine,” and leave this one to him.

It finally recovered and stood with a roar. Callum hadn’t noticed how much this thing had grown in both height and stature during their fight, but now it stared him down from triple its original loftiness. It nearly reached the chandelier dangling precariously from the center of the rotunda. The creature watched Callum pant beneath him and summon another lightning blast.

“Mage!” Its voice only vaguely resembled the condescending one it had before. “You waste your potential!”

Okay, that was just uncalled for.

“Fulminus!” Callum let out a strong burst of lightning and shocked this bastard far harder than he had before. Callum listened to the scream of agony and found himself unsatisfied that the beast still moved despite his skin crackling from the attack of a real mage.

Callum cut the spell short before he himself ran out of breath and pulled the vines back into bindings, even though he could feel the plant life suffering. “Aspiro Frigus!”

Rather than freeze the beast, (like he was initially planning), he pulled the ice into a sharp spike aimed at its neck. He shot the spear forward without a second thought and missed by only a foot when the beast moved. It impaled its shoulder and the resounding shriek gave Callum new strength.

The monster collapsed and Callum grinned. He shouted another “aspiro frigus” and created a hail of boulders by the chandelier, dropping them on the creature’s head one by one.

“You think you can just walk into Ezran’s office and scare him?”

Callum ran through the first batch of ice-rocks quickly and began to form the second. He was fully intent on dropping them to further the suffering, but two arms grabbed him from behind. All of the ice fell at once and nearly buried the creature that was somehow still howling. Soren, (when did Soren get there?), ran out from behind a pillar and jumped from one side of the beast’s neck to the other, slashing the throat as he went. He landed on the other side in an artsy kneel that Callum wanted to kill him for.

“What the fuck, Soren? I had that!”

Soren looked up at Callum like he was the deranged one. “Don’t even start with me, step mage! I was putting it out of its misery!”

Callum broke free of the arms holding him. He heard Soren’s words but they didn’t make sense in his head. The second he fought the arms off, they seemed to grab him again. He struggled for another few seconds until he realized it was just Rayla trying to grab his hand.

“Callum! Can you hear me?”

He nearly swore at her. “Yes, I can hear you! Why wouldn’t I be able to hear you?”

He spun in a circle to gauge everyone that was with him. Terry and Corvus stood off to one side, a set of guards on the other. Rayla was holding Callum’s outstretched hand in a death grip, and Soren was watching him mouth agape.

The pebble from his dream was burning a hole in his pocket.

Finally, he looked at the monster’s corpse. Blood was running from its neck, ice was covering its body, and the smell of burning fur made Callum feel nauseous. He probably should have felt bad, based on the way everyone was looking at him and the cruel massacre he had just caused. Yet Callum felt distanced from his emotions, as if he were watching a movie from above. He thought he may have been dissociating, but Rayla’s grip on his hand felt too strong for that. He was far too grounded by the dampness of water and blood across his tunic to be watching this from above.

So, where was his guilt?

He shook his head violently and met Rayla’s death grip with one of his own. The movement hadn’t woken him up from his sleep like he expected it to, but it did dawn on him that something was wrong with this picture beyond emotionless murder.

“Why are you all standing here? Ez is in trouble!”

Rayla reeled back on her grip a little, and somehow that calmed Callum. It didn’t make him less angry, just less frantic. “He is?”

Callum broke free and ran back through the mangled frame of the office doors. He heard footsteps follow.

The office was still dim, but no longer welcoming. The carpet was either soaked or singed; the walkway was matted with more dead plants than Callum remembered controlling; the desk was completely ripped in two. But the most noticeable detail was Zym, standing in the middle of the room and growling viciously at the vaulted ceiling. Callum almost wanted to ask what was wrong, but that question was pretty easy to answer on his own.

Ezran looked like he was plastered to the ceiling, staring down with wide eyes. He seemed like he was struggling against invisible rope—struggling to move and struggling to speak.

Lightning crackled dangerously across Zym’s body, focused on his snarling jaw. Callum could hear crossbows loading and blades begging to stab something behind him.

“Whoever you are” Soren asserted “this doesn’t end well for you.”

“Let him go!” Rayla demanded. Callum didn’t have to look to know she was an inch away from striking.

Without warning, dark-thistle scales began to form around Ezran’s strangled body. The form of a mutant reptile built up against the plaster ceiling. It looked unrecognizable from the man before, except for his unmistakable eyes. The monstrous lizard’s head was lined with thousands of eyes, sprouting from between the scales and watching every individual in the room. Callum’s brother was nearly swallowed by the appearance of the body, aside from his horrified gaze and a sharp nail over his neck.

“Drop Ezran.” Callum felt lightning flicker around himself so aggressively it burned. “Or I will make you wish you were your friend out there.”

Callum didn’t feel the need to point. They both knew what had happened.

Instantly, every bubbly eye on the creature shifted to Callum, watching him from one thousand different angles. It blinked slowly, letting each eye close and open before letting the next one begin.

Then, it spoke in a shrill voice that sounded far too human for this thing.

“Is that a promise, little mage?”

Callum managed to scream for his lightning to fire, but it was too late. The lizard scampered out the shattered window in a jittery sprint. The room of trained fighters reacted relatively quickly, but nowhere near as fast as Callum and Zym. Zym went out the premade hole in the middle window, but Callum was not willing to fall behind. He crashed through a non-broken window and fell into a familiar free-fall above the courtyard.

“Callum!”

In some sick way, it cracked him up that his friends were still concerned about him throwing himself off of ledges.

“Manus. Pluma. Volantis!”

His wings formed, but the feeling wasn’t soft and ticklish as it normally was. It felt like vines were crawling out of his skin and forming their own interpretation of wings. These wings were not meant for tasting the sky, but for pursuing an enemy.

Callum flapped despite the pain and followed Zym as he flew around the castle. He couldn’t see the lizard or Ez, but he trusted that Zym knew where his brother was.

A few breath sucking moments dragged past where it seemed like they were just flying in circles. Callum felt suffocated in a way he hadn’t felt since climbing the storm spire for the first time.

Then, Zym swooped towards a spire with an open window. Callum followed him down and through the thin window. Callum let his wings drag on the ground while he and Zym took it in. The room was dim and dusty, boxes cluttered the space.

“It’s a storage room…” Callum remarked. It wasn’t a massive room, but the endless barrels and crates made it feel infinitely expansive.

Callum used the quiet moment to shed his wings. He flapped twice to undo the spell—

And pain exploded across his pathetic, little world.

It began in his wings, (“wings”), and spread through his blood like a virus. He screamed into the dim night that befell him as he was shocked with the power of an endless thunderstorm. His sweat and tears became fire that flickered down his face. His head was trapped in the thoughtless box of dark magic, pushing further and further against his temples. Every little cut and scrape across his body began to bleed viscously with the same purple and black static that had swallowed his wings. Without warning, he began to feel sorry for the monster he killed, before diving back into the dopamine rush his screams had delivered. It felt soothing to know he could protect Ezran from something as awful as that, but also sickening to imagine he had done something worse than what that monster could have ever hoped to inflict.

Callum could no longer see Zym, or the storage room. Somehow even Ezran was far from his thoughts. He could vaguely imagine himself hitting the floor, but even then only one thought clouded his mind.

…not a thought, but a person.

And technically Dark Callum was not his own person, no matter how much Callum told himself otherwise. Callum opened his eyes to find his twin lying on the ground in the exact same position and facing him. The pain cut off like it had never existed, and Callum was given another chance to breathe. The other’s floppy hair must have reflected what Callum’s looked like at the moment, just with less white.

“Hey.”

Callum found himself without the energy to yell. He was too tired. He was too scared.

He was too curious.

“Hey…”

“I regret what I said earlier.”

Callum was thoughtless. “What?”

“I said that I had a good feeling about today. I don’t think I meant that.” They were looking straight into each other’s eyes. Maybe five inches apart. “I had a good feeling about the future, but today has sucked so far.”

The answer came automatically to Primal Callum. “You knew this was going to happen.” That started to make sense to him. Anger began to resurface. “Did you send those people?” He wanted to sit up and look intimidating, but he was so close to falling asleep it hurt.

Dark Callum chuckled a little. “Fuck no, I didn’t send those things.”

“Claudia?”

His twin rolled onto his back. “How should I know?” Callum wanted to follow but all he could do was uselessly wiggle some fingers.

“Aren’t you guys friends?”

Dark looked at light with an incredulous smile. “That bitch? Are you serious?” He sat himself up. “And I don’t want to hurt Ezran. I want him safe. I want Rayla safe, and Soren, and Zym and Bait and Corvus and Amaya and all of our family.”

“My family,” Callum corrected.

Dark Callum rolled his eyes and grabbed Callum. “Whatever lets you sleep at night.”

Callum was pulled into a sitting position. Suddenly, it felt easy to sit.

He ran over this conversation in his head. The world around them was dark and quiet. It felt like he had been hit in the head repeatedly and now his thoughts were running behind reality.

“What did you mean when you said you had a good feeling about the future?”

He seemed to think for a second. “I think today you’ll finally get your head out of your ass and recognize that you’re holding yourself back.”

“I’m not using dark magic.”

Dark Callum stared at him for a moment. It felt odd for Callum to be sitting with his literal demons so…domestically. Dark Callum looked comfortable, with his legs crossed and leaned back on his hands. Callum didn’t have the energy to be anything but comfortable. It wasn’t draining to be here—with him—necessarily, but he was exhausted from the long day. Long life, really.

Thoughtlessly, he slumped sideways. His head landed on his twin’s shoulder and they looked off into the void together. There were no stars. There was no moon.

An arm wrapped around Callum’s back and held him comfortably. If this had been Rayla and the void had been the sky, Callum might have been able to drift asleep in this situation.

The grip tightened.

Callum looked up through his half lidded eyes at Dark Callum’s. They continued to look off towards something neither of them could see, but the pupils looked darker than before.

“Do you think you can fight that thing, Callum?”

“Yeah.” What kind of question was that? “I killed the first one.”

Dark Callum’s eyes were twinkling like stars. “No, I mean…” he looked down at Callum pitifully “…right now? Do you really have it in you to fight again?”

Callum tried to think about it. He tried to think about the situation they were in.

“Is time paused?”

“No. You passed out and Zym had to fight on his own. Reinforcements are coming, but Zym got knocked out.”

“Will Ez be okay?”

Dark Callum looked at the horizon again. Callum felt himself trapped in a similar position to earlier; his mind desperately wanted to move but his body had its own ideas.

When his friend looked back, his eyes were completely black. A tear ran from his eye and Callum felt odd that he himself couldn’t cry too.

Callum couldn’t fight that thing. But also…

“I won’t use dark magic.”

“Why not? You’ve done it for Rayla before.”

Primal Callum had a suspicion that the question wasn’t meant to sound judgmental at all. It was genuinely curious, even if it came out as rude.

“If reinforcements are coming, I don’t want to use it. It’s not life or death.”

Dark Callum let out a breath that was almost a twisted laugh. “There are things worse than death.”

Callum felt ice climb down from his head to his feet. He felt chilled, and uncomfortable, and horrified.

But then he felt fire spread from his heart.

He grabbed his brother’s hand with any energy he had left, and squeezed. They both knew what the gesture meant. Mainly because they were one and the same.

Callum got no warning before he sat up in reality. He expected his twin to possess him and do the job, but he was definitely still in control. The room was dripping with a fizzy corruption that laced the walls and barrels in moss-like patches. Callum could sense its artificially pulse, all beating together.

He turned his head just a little bit to the right and saw Zym pressed against the wall. His skin was stained with dark bruises and every breath dragged forth little whimpers. Callum wanted to run over to and check on the baby dragon, but the sounds coming from behind him warranted his attention even more.

Hungry slurping and subtle swallows.

Callum turned and expected the worst… but he got more than that.

That was all it took for the darkness to explode.

~

…

~

That was a lot of blood. So much blood, the smell of iron nearly overwhelmed the smell of smoldering death.

Callum’s robes were soaked in the blood of the monster. It was a deep crimson that could have easily been confused for burnt umber, but Callum had a horrific amount of proof that this black substance coagulating on his own skin was the blood of that thing.

Zym had woken up during the fight. He had instantly made his way over to Ezran’s limp body and dragged him towards the corner. It made Callum’s life easier to know his baby brother was out of his way.

But now—even though it was clear the creature was dead—Zym was still growling.

“It’s okay, buddy,” Callum mumbled. He was exhausted, it was amazing that he was still standing—even if his posture was hunched and he couldn’t hold his head at the right angle. “Ez is safe now.”

Zym didn’t let up. Callum kept standing in the same spot, keeping himself still so he wouldn’t startle the dragonling. Zym had his body wrapped tightly around Ezran, blocking him even if the threat was in pieces around the attic.

Callum decided to leave them be. They were both physically safe, just traumatized. He would have the capacity to be there emotionally later. For now, his love language was killing monsters. The young mage let himself revel in his victory. The soul of the monster hung thick in the room, wafting off the different chunks of flesh and bone like steam only Callum could see. The taste of death was far richer than he had realized in his first few experiences. Probably because he didn’t let himself indulge in such a delicacy before now. Dark Callum was there. He freely paced around the room and surveyed the many eyeballs and scales strewn about the space. For the first time since Callum had met the lizard-beast, he couldn’t feel his gaze watching.

Good.

“God damn.” Dark Callum bent down to like a particular patch of monstrous goop. He ran his fingers through it and rubbed them together experimentally. Primal Callum only stood there. “That was awesome.”

It felt like he was in his dream all over again. He was exhausted and could barely think while his twin seemed unaffected. This time, however, Callum was happy, not scared. “Yeah.”

“I bet this stuff is crazy powerful fuel. What do you think, can we use it?”

Callum wanted to laugh a little. “How shou’I know?”

Dark Callum stood up with a shrug. Callum finally felt the last bits of adrenaline leave his legs and he fell to his knees.

It felt distantly familiar; kneeling uselessly, arms hung limply with wrists held up by the floor, his head dropped and eyes closed as he focused on all that was important amid the chaos.

Breathing.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Would his mom be proud of him right now?

Callum wasn’t sure. She would probably be upset that he had killed something in this manner. But she would also be glad he had kept Ezran safe. A thin line to walk, if you asked Callum.

A hand landed on his shoulder.

“Was it worth it?” He asked himself.

“Absolutely.”

~

Callum sat up so abruptly the room blurred around him. A static figure came too close to his face and he panicked, pushing himself back into the wall and landing a solid kick on the monster’s nose.

“Ow! What the fuck, dude?”

Nope. Not a monster. Just Soren.

Whoops.

The room came into focus and Callum could see the medical ward clearly. That did nothing to calm his panic.

“What happened?” He shouted.

“You kicked me in the face!”

Rayla came over to Callum’s side and Corvus found Soren.

“Callum,” Rayla started, “are you okay?”

Callum shook his head wildly. “Where’s Ezran? Is the monster dead?”

“You mean the intruders?” Corvus asked. He was holding Soren’s arms while Soren held his own face. “Yes, you killed them and the building is secure.”

“Where’s Ez?” He still hadn’t answered the important question, and Callum was starting to feel his fear turn to magical energy.

“Callum,” Rayla sat on the end of his bed, “breathe, Callum.” No matter how panicked he was, that word would always bring some level of calm to his world. It brought him back to his mother’s arms for a fleeting moment.

When Rayla could see he had calmed down to a reasonable level she grabbed his hand and held it firmly in hers. “Ezran’s right there.” She gestured to the infirmary bed across the room from Callum’s. Sure enough, his little brother was lying there—safe and sound.

But the buzz under Callum’s skin didn’t seem to die. No matter how comfortable and safe and clean and content Ezran looked, Callum couldn’t be sure it was real. He pulled his hand free from his partners’ and swung his legs over the side of the bed; intentions perfectly clear.

Rayla reached for him first. “Callum! Do not—“ He was on his bare feet already. She followed him up and tried to pull him back by his tank top. He must have been changed out his heavy mage robes and into something comfortable at some point. “Sit down, mister!” She managed to catch his collar this time and he was abruptly stopped. His head bounced forward and seemed to agitate his swelling migraine. “You need to rest.”

“Take it from me—” Soren wasn’t holding his face and Callum could see that his nose was actually starting to bruise “—he’s fine.”

Rayla huffed and came to stand beside Callum. Instead of pushing his back again, (which Callum would not have been able to recover from a second time), she wrapped an arm under his and helped him walk a few feet to Ezran’s bed.

“See, he’s fine. Are you happy?”

Ezran was laid flat on his back, dead asleep. His breathing was even and the few injuries he seemed to have were bandaged to hell and back. He looked as warm and comfortable as he could have been.

“Medic said he’s doing fine,” Zym said from the corner. Callum turned his head the little it would move to look at his friend. He only just remembered the fight from before, but Callum now had the clarity to understand that Zym wasn’t scared for him…

Zym was curled up on the floor around Terry. He was dragging one of his four fingered hands over Bait’s back and holding the baitlings close. Callum really hoped he wasn’t missing any further presence in the room, because he surely did not have the energy to check.

Callum looked over his little brother again and again. “That can’t be true.” He slid himself out of Rayla’s hold and used the bed to lower himself to his knees at Ezran’s bedside. “He can’t be fine.”

Before he realized it, Rayla had sat herself at his side and held him steady while he watched every little feature of Ezran’s resting form.

But Callum couldn’t be satisfied with that.

With the last, burning remnants of his energy and sanity, he pulled himself into the bed alongside Ezran. He listened as someone voiced their concerns behind him, but no protest in the world could stop him from holding Ez in his aching arms for the rest of their fragile lives.

Zym complained briefly about already being told he couldn’t do the same; and soon another had joined them in the little bed. Someone added Bait on the pillow above Ezran’s head, then the room slipped into a peaceful silence.

Callum brushed a stray curl back into Ezran’s untied hair. One of his own white hairs fell in front of his eyes and he couldn’t be bothered to move it. The burden of dark magic would follow him forever and that was his alone to carry.

~

Within the next day Callum was arrested for breaking his own laws. His friends and brother, (who had woken up), strongly opposed and threatened to fight the enforcement they had helped set in place…but the High Mage of Evrkynd went willingly.

It was sitting in a jail cell alone—reflecting on the atrocities he had committed and further from the sky than he had been in years—that he finally interpreted the sun arcanum.