The Golden Dragon's Hoard

2 - 4

"If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible. If he has to make a choice, may he make it now. Then I will either wait for him or forget him."
― Paulo Coelho

Hey guys :)) I finally got around to editing the rest of this book and finalizing the last couple plot points! This part will have roughly 12-13 chapters (so 30ish chapters in this book in total) and be about 23k (last part was almost 40k). Anyways, enjoy!

Part Two - Chapter Four
"The Dragon's Young Witch"

After the third time in a dreamscape, the youngling brings it up to the coven.

The witch, the one who he remembers, the one he visits in his sleep—they're a voidwalker, able to slip between this world and the space beyond physical matters, into the hidden connections between people. Able to hide in shadows and twist through the night sky, able to visit other's dreams.

It makes sense, when Ras tells him this, how they were always able to get away with sneaking him things or visiting when they weren't supposed to be back at the old coven.

How the dreams that are too real but too foreign to fit into place.

He keeps his head down, eyes on the kitchen table. They've finished eating, the coven in their respective chairs, all paying attention to what he has to share.

"They said that they wanted it this way," Stray admits, voice quiet. "That I wasn't meant to remember because—because they said I would've gone back. For them, I would've gone back."

It's a truth; a solid, immovable truth.

Because even after all this time, even after he hardly remembers them, hardly remembers their face, the way his heart aches and hands sweat and the way he loves them—longs to be with them—cannot hide how he once felt.

This witch used to mean everything to him. He would've given up freedom for them.

Oziamon sucks in a breath, fingers clasping tighter over his guitar strings with a twang!

Ras frowns, wings ruffling behind her, and his protector leans against him more, offering silent support but not saying anything

There's no words that can fix this kind of pain.

"They're young but they're powerful," the phoenix starts slowly, all back to business. "Voidwalkers leave traces of their magic behind, no matter which side of their powers they're using. The amount of nights you experience these dreams, there's enough there to track them down. If we're going to find this witch, that's a good place to start."

"How does that even work?" He scrunches his nose. "The magic's in my mind, isn't it?"

"In a way," Ras gives him a patient smile. "Do you know how we can find each other through our coven bond?" He nods. "Well, voidwalkers have to create a bond of sorts to be able to visit someone's dreams, they always leave a piece of themselves behind."

"Basically," Ozzy says, interrupting, "Ras finds what that piece is and lays a spell over your mind that will let you follow it to the source, to this witch. You follow it, and we follow you."

"But what about the store?" Stray says, anxiously bringing one of his dad's hands to his lap to fiddle with.

"We'll get someone to look after it," Ras waved away his worries. "Golden girl will probably be up for it."

Golden girl, or Marigold, was a witch who owned the bakery that was right next to their shop. She was a kind soul, sweet and soft-spoken but with sharp eyes and burly magic twisting around her. She was strong, both physically and with spells.