Twin Dragons' Destiny

Prologue-2

Aikaterina walked through the burning village. As she did, time regressed. What she was doing would not be achieved without a personal cost. From this moment forward, the energy it would require to hold this thread of the future would place a heavy toll on her.

Her initial trip had been to the future to see if there was a way to undo the damage that she had unwittingly created. She would have to be extremely careful. The chance of affecting the fabric of time in the universe, and the destinies of others who resided in it, was one of the reasons her kind remained merely observers.

Her species had been born at the same time as the universe and was thrown outward with the explosion of the first atoms. Over millennia, they had grown powerful enough to create worlds – and destroy them. However, no matter how powerful her species became, they were also very vulnerable. They lived off the positive essence of all creatures. Most planets were devoid of life, thus over time, her species had faded away until there were only a few of them left.

Aikaterina watched Brogan struggle with an older warrior at the door to a quaint cottage. His gaze was locked on a frightened young girl standing next to her mother. Several other men from the village rushed forward to help the warrior protect his fragile family.

Aikaterina lifted her hand and ordered the twin dragons’ symbiots to restrain the brothers. Shocked expressions crossed all the warriors’ faces when the symbiots suddenly surged forward and wrapped powerful bands around the twin dragons.

“Release me,” Brogan demanded, struggling against the confines of his symbiot.

Barrack shifted into his dragon. The brilliant light green and white dragon strained to throw off his symbiot. Barrack roared in rage, trying to get to his brother.

“Barrack, Brogan, stop,” their father begged, his eyes filled with grief. “Please, my sons, do not make us kill you.”

“It is too late, Bane,” one of the warriors said. “The madness has overtaken their dragons. They can’t control them any longer. Creja, fulfill your promise. Kill them before their symbiots release them or turn on us,” one of the warriors demanded.

“Bane, they are right,” Creja stated in a harsh voice.

“Look at my sons, Creja, but think of your twins. It will only be a matter of time before they reach this point. There are no true mates for them. It may be better to strike them dead than to let them live knowing there is no hope, but could you do it?” Bane replied in a tortured voice.

“She is our true mate! She approached us,” Brogan growled, continuing to fight against his symbiot.

Creja shook his head. “Look inside yourself, Brogan. Neither you, nor your dragon or your symbiot desire the girl as a true mate. The same goes for your brother. Mula is not your chosen one. You are trying to convince your dragon that she is your mate to placate him,” he argued, pulling his sword free from his side.

“Our dragons need her, Creja. The loneliness is too much. With a mate, we will fight to protect the Valdier. I have to take her. I no longer have a choice,” Brogan argued.

Aikaterina lifted her hand, pausing time. She already knew what would happen from this point forward. She recognized the emotion in Brogan’s voice from what their symbiots had shown her. Her understanding of these emotions had grown over time and was one of the things that had attracted her to this world.

The Valdier were a fierce, proud, and passionate species, but in order for them to find their true mate, all three parts of who they were needed to agree and connect as one with their destined partner. It was a safeguard that she’d created to keep them from believing themselves all-powerful with the symbiots by their side. Perhaps it was another flaw on her part, but it was one she did not regret, for it gave life to her species in a different way.

She stopped between the two warriors. Their symbiots shimmered with color, knowing she was there. She swept her gaze over each of the twins.

“Release them,” she murmured to the symbiots.

The golden bodies melted and reformed in the shape of Werecats. Both symbiots sat protectively next to their men. Aikaterina transformed and became solid. While the form she took looked like a Valdier maiden, she had no intention of pretending to be anyone other than who she really was – a Goddess among the Valdier and creator of the symbiots.

“Awaken, warriors,” she ordered with a wave of her hand.

Brogan stumbled forward while Barrack turned in a graceful circle, his dragon searching for attackers. Both man and dragon froze when they saw her. Stunned disbelief temporarily pulled them from the edge of the madness that gripped them.

“What…?” Brogan started to growl, his voice fading when he realized everything around him was held in suspended animation.

Aikaterina watched Barrack shift back to his two-legged form, his gaze warily following his brother’s. They looked around them, noticing several dragons frozen in mid-flight while on the ground, men, women, children, and animals were frozen in different phases of motion. She studied their faces when both men turned their wary gazes her way.

“Walk with me,” she instructed, turning away.