On another continent, Darius Silvermoon looked around the tired faces of his company. There was something strange about this entire incident. Mountain trolls were ferocious. They didn't do tactics. They didn't retreat. Yet, these few hours, they came in waves, fought for an hour or so, retreated, and disappeared into the mountains like ghosts.

The young man with blue eyes, slightly long black hair, draped in lightweight armor stood up. <Hold on,> he told her his sister. He sensed something was wrong, so he wanted to be alone anyway. No one in the company knew he was Dragon. He retreated into the vacant house on the outskirts of the village they were allowed to use. He went into a small room and placed a magic barrier on the room to prevent eavesdropping. He wasn't as gifted or interested in magic as his sister, but he learned the spells that would benefit him. He probably counted as an upper second-tier mage.

He closed his eyes and held up a hand with his index finger outstretched. He began to whirl his finger, creating a small black hole in the air. A crack sounded; a violet light split the middle of the hole. "You there?" he asked aloud. "What's wrong?" Having tried to contact him twice, he knew that there was trouble.

Britiana saw the black hole forming in front of her and helped him form it. She lifted her hand to whirl her finger where the hole was forming. "I'm here," she answered when she heard the crack. "Mom came for us today," she announced happily.

Darius was stunned, then he smiled. "That's great! I'll go to you now," he said excitedly.

"You can't!" Chrystianna suddenly shouted. She blushed but hearing her son's voice made her fear spike again.

"Mom?" Darius asked, slightly overwhelmed.

"Yes, it's me," she whispered softly. "You can't come to us. We'll go to you," she said. "We'll be there soon.”

Darius swallowed. "Britiana. What's going on?" he asked. He didn't have to be an empath to hear the fear and worry in his mother's voice. He thought of the strange behavior of the mountain trolls, and the odd behavior of the villagers. It always struck him as strange that their crops were robbed but they suddenly had so much money to hire a mercenary company instead of relocating. He didn't want to take this job; the others thought it was just cause.

Britiana knew her brother was sharp. She had no intention of lying to him. "Dragon Hunters are on Thelessia. They came to me tonight. Don't worry, I'm fine thanks to Sariya, but--"

"They split us up. They went for you first while they used mountain trolls to tire me. They know about my company. They've been lurking around us for a while," he said, quickly seeing the heart of the matter. He furrowed his brows and rubbed his forehead.

"Be careful. Mom has the Voidstalker. We'll come to you and pick you up.”

"I'm not going anywhere. They won't attack us yet. We're still in good shape," he said. He made a mental note to himself not to eat or drink anything in the village. Most normal poisons don't work on him, but who knows if these people got something from the Dragon Hunters that could affect him. The villagers might not know he was a Dragon, but the Hunters did.

"Okay. See you see you soon," Britiana said and brushed her hand through the glowing black hole, dissipating it.

That was the first time Sariya had seen her use void magic. She was impressed.

Raziel grinned slightly. "You've met your father," he said. It wasn't a question, just a statement of fact. Even if the two little Dragons inherited void magic, without someone to teach them, they wouldn't be so proficient.

Britiana was slightly surprised. Chrystianna was as well. They looked at each other. "You've both met your father?" Chrytianna asked.

"Mm. He's physically closer to Thelessia than Emphyralis, so he can jump here easier. Plus, there's no dimensional interference," Britiana answered.

Chrystianna understood. That was true. The father of her twins wasn't married to her. He was an Amethyst-Sapphire hybrid. He was meant to be the heir of the protectorate family of Silvermoon, Elias Morningstar. They grew up together and in the most cliche way possible, they fell in love. 

However, the Dragons Hunters came to Emphyralis. When they were teenagers, the Dragons Hunters released a plague that affected mature Dragons over the Changing Age. Before a cure was made, Elias began to show signs of hitting his Changing Age early. The last few members of a special organization of void mages and adult Amethyst Dragons called the Eventide Enclave took him and other young Amethyst Dragons close to the Changing Age with Void ability potential. 

No one realized how long the Hunter Wars would last. No one could have guessed that in order to protect Emphyralis, they had to shut down their way to travel off world and use magical means to distort the dimensional space around not only the planet but the solar system it was part of.

But twenty-one years ago, Elias managed to Voidjump to her side, at just a little over a century in age, through the dimensional interference. It showed his strength. But he could only stay for a few hours. After such a long separation, spending most of that time together was inevitable. They made the decision together to have their children, and so they did. Even if he couldn't be there often, they still wanted to start their family.

But it turned out, sending them away enabled them to see him more often than her. She was sad and happy at the same time. She stood and put her stool away. She reached out and took her daughter's hand. "Come, let's go to your brother," she said. The smile she gave was genuine if a bit melancholic. She glanced at Raziel.

Raziel smiled slightly and tore open the air in front of him. He led it back like a curtain. Sunlight shone through from the other side. Under his watchful gaze, the three women stepped through.