Dream of Us

Denali’s POV.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

It is reassuring me that I have but minutes left in this cage. My wrists are attached to thick silver chains that would weigh my arms down if they were not attached to the ceiling and pulled taut. My ankles are cuffed together in the centre of the room, multiple chains are wrapped around my waist, striking off in different directions and welded to the walls. There is a cuff around my neck too, restricting my movement further.

I’m locked up like an animal, but they haven’t seen anything yet. I can act like the animal they fear me to be.

Spelled into a magical haze, frozen in time, I have no idea how many days I have been locked away in this room. I know how many years, though.

Ten.

Ten years my body has aged. I arrived a teenager and will leave as a man. My needs: food, water, excretion, are all frozen. I am trapped in both my mind and this cell, unable to shift into my true form. My muscles have formed from endless days pulling against my restraints, testing their strength for any sign of weakness. Magic has prevented their deterioration. They are strong as they were the day I was locked into them.

But tonight, things will finally go my way. A change is in order. The people that locked me in here have no idea of the importance of this hour. They do not know that a planetary alignment will occur soon. I am made from the dust of stars; I am connected to the galaxy in ways they cannot understand. I have felt this alignment approaching for weeks and I am ready to harness my full power to break out of these bonds.

Even their most powerful mage cannot hold me when my power is at its strongest and theirs is at its weakest. If only I had my mates with me, we would be unstoppable.

But that is the very reason I was locked in here in the first place.

Omnipotence.

I close my eyes and listen to the drips, waiting for the perfect moment. With each passing second, the planets move further into alignment. They move closer together until, at last, I feel them fall into an astronomer’s dream row of eight.

The energy moves across the cosmos, channelling into my body and filling me with power. Mentally, I wish for my brothers to be feeling the same surge of power, but the realistic part of me knows they would be unable to escape. I am the first born, the most powerful. The alignment will only benefit me, but by freeing myself, I can free them, too.

The air around me crackles with my power. I open my eyes and feel stars swirling in my normally camo-green orbs. The pigment is long gone, temporarily replaced with golden flashes of spinning constellations as my body is charged with energy. I grit my teeth, flex my muscles, and pull against the chains.

They groan against my pressure. For the first time, they crunch and creak, breaking open at the very cuffs around my wrists and ankles. The four ties fall to the floor with an almighty ruckus. The metal clatters against the concrete, alerting the guards of my escape. I grip the chain around my neck and pull it free like cold butter, with only a little resistance.

The power surge will not last long, I know. I have but a few minutes to make my escape. My large hands wrap around the iron bars of my cell door. A few tugs and the whole thing bends inwards, falling from its hinges. I step out into the corridor and get my first change of scenery in a decade.

Ten years I have spent chained in that cell. To be finally free is exhilarating, nothing is going to make me get back in there.

A swarm of guards comes charging down the corridor, brandishing various weapons. The red dots of laser scopes land on my body, making it a moving target. I sprint towards them, throwing myself into the fray without hesitation. Even if only for a brief time, I am invincible. The bullets ricochet off my chest and fire in all directions, taking out a couple guards for me.

The rest feel the burning blaze of my touch. I spread my hands over every part of them I can reach, leaving scorching trails across their bodies and faces. They scream in pain and drop to the floor in flames, resorting to nothing but ash in seconds. Only a celestial can handle star fire, a mere mortal or lower immortal like a mage cannot take the heat.

I barrel through the guards, leaving nothing but ash in my wake as I burst up the stairs. More guards come and realise too late that they cannot fight me, there is no way that they can match my power. Flames lick at my fingertips, warming but not scorching my skin. My blazing eyes scan the exits, looking for the fastest way out.

Another surge of guards, another pile of ash that billows into the air in a grey cloud. Their screams are drowned out by the roaring of the flames. The heat spreads throughout the building, engulfing the place in heat, ash, and fumes. My body is like an ember, steadily burning as I run through the corridors, flames licking at my back.

I make it outside and breathe the first lungful of fresh air that I have had in ten years. I close my eyes to enjoy the moment and feel a twinge of panic as I feel my power start to fade. The planets are continuing to move and will not be aligned much longer. This power high was enough to get me out, but it will not be enough to keep me safe. I need to get away from this place.

The last of the guards come racing out of the building, some are running from the fire I have started, some are on a suicide mission to try and stop me from leaving. Either way, this is their last night on Earth. I burn them all with my hands before disappearing into the trees.

The planets decouple and fall out of line. With the source to my extreme power gone, the flames die out around my body, leaving nothing but steam rising from my back. As I run through the trees, that too cools, and I am my normal self by the time I reach the other side of the forest.

I stop in the middle of the road and look both ways up and down the highway, debating on which way to go.

So many choices.

Third Person’s POV.

King Inteus sits on his thrown, tapping his fingers impatiently on the armrest as he waits for news from his station. There has been radio silence for almost eight hours, that has never happened before.

A reconnaissance party was sent out in the early hours of the morning to gather intel on why station one isn’t responding. Waiting for their update is sending the king into a maddening temper.

“Your highness.”

His head snaps towards the deputy general who has entered the throne room. The man looks dishevelled, the strands of his fringe plastered to his sweaty forehead. He rushes across the room in a way that is something between a walk, a run, and a skip. The odd and disjointed hopping does nothing for his appearance.

“What is it?” He gets to his feet, his voice booming with impatience. “What have you heard? Tell me!”

There is a moments’ pause the king debates having the general beheaded for making him wait longer than necessary. He has waited long enough in his eyes, he needs his worst fears confirmed, he needs to know.

“Prisoner one, Denali, he…he escaped.”

The king slowly sits back down on his throne. His eyes stare at the intricate tiles on the floor, but they’re not really seeing anything. His mind is racing with terror of what is to come. He has dreaded this day for so long. He knew that their immurement would not be infinite, it is not possible to keep such a potent animal caged.

It was only a matter of time, but the king naively believed that he had more. He thought it would be another few decades before one of them would get free.

Now, his focus is on hiding the others. Their kind are stronger together, therefore the king must keep them apart if he wants to maintain his throne.

“My daughter…where is she?”

The deputy general grimaces. “She is still in England, your highness.”

The king’s keen hearing detects the quiver in his voice, the tonal clue that he is worried about his monarch discovering something that he is hiding. His unforgiving eyes land on the perspiring man shifting nervously in front of him.

“Where exactly in England?”

“Well, uh, you see, that’s the thing, your highness-“

“Spit it out, you buffoon!”

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