Witcher the dragon prince:through the moon, a Dragon Prince + Witcher Crossover fanfic

Note from author

With the coming of Secrets of Aaravos, I have decided to make this special based on the comic, and after I have completed my first story I will be creating the sequel called Enigma of the fallen star. Warning Spoilers to future chapters in Witcher the dragon prince and contains A surprise for Enigma of the fallen star

Witcher the dragon prince through the moon

Unknown location

Rayla walked into a deep chamber, three large crystal spikes were shooting up from the ground as she walked, no not ice, Rayla realized, these are ice spikes, curious she walked up one of them warrily placing it on the cold chunk of frozen water. There was something inside, "no not somebody Someone" Rayla realized, as she peered into the crystal, but she couldn't see who it was.

Disappointed and with a sense of forbidding she turned to the second and this time it was instantly clear, but she surely wished it wasn't, surrounded in the ice, arms crossed over his chest, eyes closed, head raised. Oh Gods.

It was Runaan himself, he was encast in ice, arms crossed, eyes closed as if in a prayer of some kind, Rayla pressed her ear against the ice, there was a heartbeat but she found that that only made the sense of dread within her, even stronger. Finally she walked over to the last one, this time there seemed to be two people inside.

Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it was in her mouth and she almost felt sick despite there being a pit in her stomach, she looked inside and staggered backwards, oh by the great moon, it was her parents, encased in the same manner as Runaan and the other person, whoever it was.

"Do you like my Collection Miss Rayla?" Taunted an all to familiar voice behind her, she whirled around to find the one and only bastard himself, Viren, clad in the same white robe as he had been during the battle at the storm spire, the strange worm that was wrapped around Virens neck and shoulders lowered its head like a snake warning a predator.

He held his staff and his skin and hair were ashen and his eyes a dark black, like when Rigran drank one of his witcher potions only without the pulsing veins and reminded Rayla of a Shark, and the evil was all too clear in them.

"You" Rayla hissed drawing her swords, "oh i wouldn't do that" Viren said almost uncaringly but with that edge of gleeful malic to it.

"unless you want to join him.." Viren added as he whipped away some frost from the first ice crystal, "as a new additions" Rayla first went white as she finally saw who it was, it was Ezran, "or perhaps you would like to join them" Viren continued to Taunt as he gestured to two crystals Rayla hadn't noticed before.

It was Kaja and Rigran, Rayla felt like a sword had stabbed her heart as she realized that Rigran had a sword sticking out of his own chest, no, not a sword, a sickle, a Sickle that had belonged to the Witcher Snake.

"Or perhaps" Taunted Viren further, "considering how "close" you two are.."

"No" Rayla thought, despairing, "not him to"

Viren didn't finish his sentence, he didn't need to as he walked over to a final crystal, inside, was Callum.

Rayla was suddenly filled with red hot anger, "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" she roared and charged at Viren.

"To Little…" boomed a voice overhead and suddenly Rayla found herself slipping down a slope, she landed on something soft, "Too late" finished the echoing voice that sounded like it was above her.

She looked up, and found that she was actually on a large hand, the hand seemed to be made out of the night sky itself, with glistening white sparkling star like lights, the fingers she was looking up at had the 5 crystal of her friends and family and on the palm in front of her was Viren.

only now he was on the flaming horse that she recognised had belonged to the fire warrior Malum, where the strange worm had been, in its place was a large Cobra was coiled around his neck and it hissed at her and next to him was the crystal containing Callum. And beyond the fingers appearing beyond the blackness of the strange void…

"N-No he's-he's gone" Rayla thought fear entering her, pure primordial fear, it was the helmed face of Criobrihainn the Aelder-human hybrid of the wild Hunt, "oh don't worry" Viren said just as tauntingly as before if not more so, raising his staff which began to glow "you will be joining them all, very, very…soon".

A blue beam of magic shot up towards and above and the magic soon began changing into something, something big, something blue, it was as it became more clear…. A massive blue and familiar looking feather?

Suddenly she felt a tickling sensation on her nose and she opened blurry eyes and found the feather, back to normal size, was in fact on her nose. She sat bolt upright with a sneeze, "morning sleepy head" Callum laughed, and Rayla realized that what had happened had in fact been a dream, but it had felt so real, though she was too annoyed to focus on that.

"Alright alright i'm up" she said still a tad drowsy, she was in the princes room, in her orange Pj's, her cloths folded on a bedside table, Callum sat on the end of her bed, which was really just a lounger with a blanket draped over it and holding the blue feather.

Ezran stood nearby looking a tad annoyed as well, for what reason Rayla did not know, but Kaja and Rigran were also there, Rigran watching with amusement, "good morning" he said, though it was hard to find it amusing with the bandages around his face covering the burn marks of where Malum had marked him, Kaja meanwhile was smiling and waving while carelessly twirled a fireball around her hand.

"Alright What's the big idea?" Rayla asked unamused, "oh i thought you would make that cute face of yours" Callum said cheerfully, "but what?" Rayla pressed unamused, "well it was more of a cute angry face…" Callum began but Ezran decided to speak up.

"Callum can I have Phoe-phoe feather back now" he asked, "you really shouldn't be using it like that".

"Wait Pheo-pheo?" Rayla asked the name bringing her into wide awakeness, "yup. Remember. Lujanna dead phoenix" Kaja prompted, "Lujanna sent us a letter about it. Apparently her time of resurrection is coming and she wants us there when it happens' ' Rigran added.

Ezran showed her the letter, "it's the least we can do for her" Ezran said as Callum handed him back the feather "she sacrificed herself to get me to the storm spire. She left this glowing father behind when she did".

Ezran then turned the letter around and read it, "she says we need to bring the 'ghost feather' to the moon nexus before the next new moon so she can reform. This must be how she is reborn as she is a moon Phoenix",

"Wait! the next new moon? That's only three days away!" Rayla exclaimed, "yeah she really needed to send this sooner'' Ezran agreed, "she's a nice lady but she can be really unhelpful" Kaja added, "we better get moving" Rayla said jumping out of bed, "what are you guys doing up so early anyway?"

"Um actually" Callum said awkwardly as the other shifted a tad uncomfortable, "everyone has been up for an hour". "It's about 10 o'clock now" Rigran added, "oh" Ray;a said guiltily, she had slept in, then a thought struck her.

"Wait Ez, don't you have kingly duties now? Can you go with us?" she asked, "well yes i do have duties now." Ez answered, "but this is important. Soren and I can be away for a while but not too long".

"Besides we left a note for Opeli and Dravaan" Kaja added, putting out the fireball via closing her fist.

Opeli was seeing the note now, she sighed tiredly, she had already been through a lot already and more paperwork was really not very appealing. She herself needed a break one of these days. Dravaan, reading over her shoulder, chuckled, "the cheek of those kids" he said with mirth.

Back in the bedroom, Ezran made his way out of the room, "I'm going to pack" he said, Soren and I will meet you at the courtyard in an hour".

"We'll go pack as well" Kaja said standing up as did Rigran, who both then left the room.

Rayla picked up her bag and started to pack. Callum however knew something was wrong, "up late again?" he asked, "...yeah" Rayla admitted after a bit of hesitation, as she picked up some of her clothes "i just couldn't rest, just lay awake. Thinking too much… and when I did get to sleep… She trailed off and sat down next to Callum.

"We never found his body" she clarified and Callum knew what was wrong, he rubbed the stumps on his left hand, where his two missing fingers, his pinkie and ring finger used to be as a phantom pain resurfaced, "we looked everywhere, i know he fell from halfway to the moon. But did he die?, we should have found something. Anything".

"Rayla" Callum said gently, "Viren is dead, there is no possible way he could have -", "You don't know that!" she snapped, "everyone wants to move on! But what if it's not over".

Honestly in callums opinion it wasn't, if anything, they were all waiting for Hainn, Malum and the rest of their hybrid legion to make the next move, but the thing was that it had been 3 whole months since the battle of the storm spire.

"Well" Callum said trying to think of a response, "if it is the 'to move on' -" "and how am i supposed to do that?" Rayla exploded, "I lost my parents, Runann, and I don't even know what the damn hell happened to them!"

She turned away angrily, Callum Coughed guiltily, "sorry Rayla" he said apologetically, "i just hate seeing you like this".

Rayla expression softened as she put her head tiredly on his shoulder, "i'm sorry as well" she said, "i guess i have been a bit of a mess", Callum chuckled, "we all a mess sometimes" he said as he lifted up his hand, the one with the missing fingers, "some more than others."

"True" Rayla said in a teasing tone, "you've been wearing that scarf for as long as i've known you", Callum blushed and was now stammering in embarrassment, "um hey why don't we think of this trip to the nexus as a…Vacation." he stammered, "there is a beautiful lake, neat ruins and all the grub you can eat"

Though the last part was a tad inaccurate, Rayla smiled and wrapped her arms around Callums shoulders feeling better already, "does sound lovely" she said, "and thanks Callum. A Vacation is probably what I need."

Cursed Caldera the next days

It took a lot less time to get to the town near the cursed Caldera than the group had done before, going by horse cart was indeed a lot faster and by going via the fastest route with a map. This time there was no threat of being chased out by an angry horde, in fact Rayla had no need to disguise herself as a human.

The man with the sunforge dagger, who's name was Tristan, greeted them as old friends, which thanks to the powers of Axii, they were to him. They then met up with the doctor to have a look at Rigrans face, "it's healing nicely" he said as he started redoing the bandages around Rigrans "there will be scarring" obviously, "but you should be properly healed by next month".

Next they met up with Ellis and Ava at the edge of the forest, she was happy to see them, Callum Rayla, Kaja and Rigran asked about her eye, this caused Soren to flinch guiltily, but Ellis said it was fine. She led them into the cursed Caldera, "is it me, or has this place gotten creepier?" Callum asked, "hm. I think it's about the same level of creepy" Ezran admitted as he held Bait nervously.

Both were right, despite knowing it as(relatively) safe, the caldera still made all of them feel tense, Ellis however was whistling happily, "aren't you being a bit too happy go lucky aren't ya?" Kaja asked, "oh no don't worry Lujanna will be meeting us up ahead shortly" Ellis said calmly, her calmness was a little unnerving to Kaja.

" 'Ittle one eye" said a voice to their right, they all turned to find a large hulking creature walk out into the open, it was big, twice the size of a human, with a large lock on his back that he was carrying like a backpack, attached by bandages and bits of stikes, attached to these sticks were all sorts of barrels, animal skins and bones and even one lantern.

"oh hello Rockstride" Ellis said as the others, mainly Rigran, Soren and Rayla went halfway to drawing their weapons.

"Ah Ellis that's a Troll" Rigran said looking at it, must have been another monster that had been summoned by the Djinn to stop them from getting the dragon prince to xadia. "Not that a troll would be any good at that" Rigran thought.

"And you are Witcher" the troll said, stepping forward and pointing to Rigrans manticore pendent "me friend with Witcher, he Trade boar for Vodka and me trade Rum for girl", "so i take it he's no an illusion then" Rayla said, "nope" Ellis confirmed, lightly punching Rockstride playfully, "solid a as a rock" Soren joked.

"Wait guys do you hear that?" Kaja asked suddenly, they all fell silent, there sounded like there was a skittering scuttling sound, Rigrans medallion began vibrating then with an almighty CRASH, the giant spider landed in front of them and roared with a large SKREEEEEEEE. The force blew all their hair back, or in baits case, blew the side of his mouth like an empty potato sack.

"Oh you again" Rayla said tiredly fixing her hair up, "yup mister skitters" Ellis said with a smile as Ava barked happily, "of course she named it that" Kaja said rubbing her forehead.

"Fear none it be e-loose-shun" Rockstride said, he sounded like he was struggling to forge the pronunciation for Illusion, and considering a troll's intelligence that was hardly surprising.

Mr Skitters made a curious clicking sound, "yeah, I know you sound real." Rayla said, "but we've had this conversation before." the spider clicked again, "because…" Rayla continued casually, placing her hand and leaning on one of the spider's large black eyes, "unlike rocstride over there, you're as solid as that wind you blew-" the penny dropped, a big penny that had a clang louder than the spider's previous roar.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!" she exclaimed in surprise jumping back, more out of surprise that she had actually touched the illusion than disgust for touching it's eye, and tripping over, luckily Callum caught her as the others looked astounded. Except Rockstride who just stared dopily and Ellis who was laughing hysterically and even Ava made a sound that was like chuckling.

Suddenly another fit of laughs filled the air, they were afferial and echoing, the voice was familiar, "i got you good" laughed Lujanna, as she appeared, appearing next to her was a large man with brown hair, a beard tied into three small pigtails and a the rest tied in a plate, and next to him, was the Leshen, he glared at them, but softened when Bait and Ezran ran up to him to greet him.

"Wow" Callum said amazed, "you made the illusion solid? How'd you do that? Was it a new spell?", "wha-?" Rayla said, still partially recovering from the shock of it, after a second she recovered "oh i knew it was a fake".

"So did i" Soren said trying to play it cool, "definitely wasn't fooled", "well i should have figured" Rigrans said looking at his still vibrating medallion, it had done this before when they had first met the spider, but in the heat of that moment it hadn't occurred to anyone. Why it hadn't vibrated when in close proximity to Ava's fake leg he had no idea.

"Oh no" Lujanna said gesturing to the large man behind her, "it was all thanks to Allen here", "hello" he said cheerfully, "you seem familiar" Rigran said, "oh wait i remember" Rayla said, "you were the guy who fought the mustache man with the sunforge dagger. Got your sword cut in half during the fight". "You were there for that?" Allen asked in surprise.

"Yeah then you ran off crying" Callum recalled, "oh" Lujanna said in fake teasing surprise, "you didn't tell me that Allen", "well there's nothing wrong with crying" Allen said, "big strong men with their big strong feelings" Lujanna sighed.

"Um so…about the spider?" Kaja pressed, "oh yes. You see" Lujanna said as the spider moved, seeming to stepped off over something, it turned out to be a large spider shaped frame made out of wood and with a large dead animal hide, "no magic - just wood to give my illusion some Solidity".

"Impressive" Rigran admitted, "indeed" Lujanna said, "Allen is quite the carpenter. It's fun to have a collaborator" Allen blushed flattered, "aw, now Janey-lu.." he said, "me helped" Rockstride said in the background "hold on. Are you two a couple?" Kaja asked in exasperation, Lujanna winked.

Ezran decided it was time to get down to business, "uh Lujanna?" he said, "hello Ezran" Lujanna said growing somber as Ezran presented her with Phoe-Phoe feather, "thank you dearly for coming so quickly.", "Phoe-phoe, Sacrificed herself for me" Ezran said, "i have to honor that".

"Oh this part of the cycle is always so hard" Lujanna said as Ezran gave her the feather and she placed it close to her chest, "it aches to miss her even though i know she'll be back".

"So…will she really come back? With this ritual?" Ezran cheered, "She will" Lujanna confirmed, "moon phoenix feathers are special as they are tethered to both life and death. Especially here at the moon nexus where worlds meet"

Lujanna handed the feather back to Ezran, "when the time is right, during the ceremony, i'll ask you to place this feather on the water and after that…well, you'll see" she said, "but until then, hold onto it"

"Thank you Lujanna" Ezran said feeling very honored.

"Now then" Lujanna continued clapping her hands together, "you are all probably very hungry from your journey", that killed the mood and made everyone, save for Allen, Leshy, Rockstride and Ellis and Ava, sweat in fearful anticipation. "We have a little more time before the ritual - why don't we head up the rest of the way and I'll get dinner prepared."

The replies were as follows, "wait no" Soren blurted, "oh yes please" Ellis said excitedly, while Ava barked, "Thanks but…" Rayla said, wondering if she can politely turn it down "can me join?" Rockstride asked, "we don't need food" Ezran hurriedly said, Bait let out a grunt "we already brought food" Callum added, "besides i think i caught the scent of a deer nearby i can hunt it easy" Rigran continued, "i can start the fire" Kaja finished producing a flame in her hand.

Later

They were all at Lujanna's garden, sitting around the table as the sun set, Bait, Rockstride, Ava and the Leshen were all to one side eating their retrospective meals, while the others ate what was not fake and actually food and not made out of insects. "So how long have you two been a couple?" Lujanna asked, Eliss spat out her juice in surprise, "you guys are a couple?" she demanded, "um-" Callum asked, a little stunned, "is it obvious?" Rayla asked, "a little" Lujanna teased.

"Uh well let's see" Callum said thinking, "well we were at the oasis in the midnight desert.."

"No! Don't bring that up" Rayla begged, covering her blushing face, Lujanna just laughed, "oh that's all right. I'm happy for you.", "and what about you two?" Ellis asked, "we've been together since the battle of the storm spire" Kaja responded, "and this idiot had to face down the member of the wild hunt, who burnt his face and won't let me heal him".

Rigran raised his hands defensively, "hey can't i atleast have nice scars to show off?" he asked innocently, "just as long as it doesn't nearly kill you" Kaja said, "hm yes. Times are changing. Especially between humans and elves" Lujanna thought the mention of the wild hunt putting her into mild worry.

"So um how did you and Allan meet?" Callum asked, "it was actually right after you lot left to take Azymondias home" she explained, "aye something strange happened to me" Allen said, "you probably won't believe me when you see it", "when we see it?" Callum asked, "ah i woke up one night to find something very unnatural happened to me, since there are stories of a miracle healer up here, i came to get myself cured before the whole town woke and would send me out with a hail of pitchforks".

"It was that bad?" Rigran asked, "you probably have no idea" Allen said, "it is magical in nature, there's no doubt" Lujanna said, "speaking of Magic" Callum said to Lujanna "i want to show you something".

"Oh?" Lujanna asked intrigued, "i know the sky arcanum", Lujanna sighed, "callum we have been over this. You won't born with a connection to the Arcanum" she explained patiently, Callum deadpanned and expertly drew a symbol in the air and, "Aspiro" blew at the symbol and creating a burst of wings that blew everyone of the table, knocked Soren, Allen and Ellis off the table and forced the rest to cover their faces.

Lujanna however went wide eyed at this, "oh" was all she could saw when the resulting wind died down, her expression was almost comical, Rayla had to hold in her sniggers, Kaja had rather smug look as she saw the old elf being taken aback, "wow" Ellis said amazed. "Um- sorry" Callum said to the assemble as Allen and Soren got back up, "that was a lot more powerful than i…um…well i'm still getting the hang of it"

"AAA! Come back" Ezran exclaimed, as Phoe-phoe feather escaped his grasped, Rigran made a grab for it but it flew out of the way, "Damn" he cursed as he got out from his seat to help chase it, "oh sorry" Callum said rushing over to help. Bait's tongue shot out to grab it, "Wait, Bait, NO!" Ezran exclaimed, "Don't eat it", the display had Rayla and Kaja chuckling.

However thoughts of the strange dream she had had 2 days earlier still haunted her and her worries began to arise once again.

"Did anyone feel that light breeze?" Rockstride asked Lujanna as he came over, Lujanna was still too stunned to answer.

Eventually the sun began to set and the stars began to come out, they all made their way down to the lake, Lujanna and Ezran stood near the edge of the lake, Ezran bent down holding the feather, "now is a good time" Lujanna told Ezran, "you can place it in the water".

Ezran did so, it floated steadily on the calm surface and out into the center of the lake, Lujanna turned to the others, "there is a cycle in the world" she began, "life and death. It is the core of all things"

She gestured to the night sky, "the moon embodies the cycle. Bit by bit it will fade away, then bit by bit it will brighten again."

She spread her hands out, "come together and join hands", the others gave her an odd look, "no really it's part of the ritual" she explained. With no further hesitation they all grabbed the hand of the person next to them and formed a circle, the animals and Rockstride stood off to the side watching.

"Death is frightening" Lujanna continued, "birth can be as well. And yet they are what connect us all. Kings and commoners, rich and poor. Human and elf - each one is equally vulnerable in the beginning and the end".

Callum and Rayla shared a knowing look with each other and held each other's hand a little tighter as Lujanna spoke, "let that fact be humbling. And let it bind us together. Remember that as life inevitably leads to death, so also does life come after death. This is the cycle. Not an ending"

Ezran felt the memory of his father and a vague one of his mother pass through his mind, remembering what he shall and will do to honor both their memories as his reign as a king.

"Remember all those you have left behind. Think on all they have given you" Rigran thought of Dravaan, of the life he had given him, given a life of adventure, as a Witcher and a family to call his own even if he wasn't bound by blood. "And for those who will come after you, think of what you will give them"

That was an easy one, they would all give those who came after them, a world where dragons were no longer shot from the sky out of fear of fire and death, elves and humans could safely cross the border without being at each other's throats, dark magic banned and illegal where only the most wicked would attempt to use and be punished justly. A world where all were born to be able to connect to the arcanums, the 6 primary sources.

That would be their legacy, one shared, not just in their land, but others across the sea, to where Dravaan was born, history would no longer depict Witchers as monsters, but as Hero's, or at the very least, professionals who were very noble and fair in their work.

Lujanna senses their thoughts and continued to speak, "a phoenix dies, and from its death it will live again. A phoenix is tethered uniquely to the cycle of life and death, yet like us, it is a part of the cycle"

Though there was no magic involved, everyone swore that they did feel something akin to magic, perhaps they were all just very deep in the moment, even still it felt beautiful and warm.

"Let us remember Phoe-phoe, who was tireless and brave, and always there when we needed her most. And let us welcome Phoe-phoe back as she begins her cycle anew"

And with that crashendo moment they all waited expectantly, nothing seemed to be happen, "give it a moment" Lujanna said before grumbling to herself, "i never get the timing right"

But just then the upper curve of the crescent new moon arrived over the horizon, it's light fell upon the feather and as it got further and further up over the horizon the feather began to glow bright, in fact it burst into a brilliant moon blue flame hovering over the water and t began to change, it began to take shape and solidify into a light beautiful blue egg that had sparkling details like stars all over its shell.

It plopped back down into the water and began to float back to shore, Lujanna broke from the circle, bent down and picked it up caressing it fondly, "alright now what ritual do we need to do to hatch it?" Kaja asked, Lujanna gave her a sly look and on cue a crack spread along the shell, "ah never mind" Kaja said in embarrassment for her rudeness.

Lujanna walked over to Ezran, "alright Ezran, hold out your hands'' she said, "o-okay" Ezran said nervously, doing as he was told, Lujanna opened up the egg and floating out was a very small moon Phoenix chick, it opened its eyes, without any trouble and looked at the assembly, "cheep?" she said, "aw" Ezran cued, "I can see the many lifetimes of wisdom in your eyes'', the baby Phoe-pheo stood up and chirped in greeting, "welcome back to the world" Ezran greeted.

Everyone crowded around to get a good look, all except for Allen, "hey Allen you okay?" Soren asked, "it's going to start soon, you best hide" he said, "oh of course, come on" Lujanna said hurriedly pulling all of them to the cover of the tree's.

'What's going to start?' Rayla asked, "you'll see," Ellis said as she pulled Ezran and Soren(by his cape) behind the trees.

She got her answer soon enough. Allen let out a pained cry and his body began to shudder as he fell to the ground, the cry turned into a howl and by that I really meant a howl more animastic than human. Suddenly the back of his clothes tore and his feet extended and became double joined no longer fitting his shoes, he kicked them away.

His finger and toenails broke and were replaced by sharp claws, his limbs extended becoming twice their original size, brown fire began to grow all over his body and his teeth fell out followed by sharp fangs as his face extended becoming that of a large canine his human ears disappeared and were replaced with Wolf ones.

Finally it all stopped and standing where Allen had been, was a brown large humanoid wolf, "a werewolf?" Rigran whispered as Allen threw his head back in a howl-roar hybrid sound.

Once he finished howling/roaring he began panting and breathing heavily, his breathing interlaced with snarls, "Um Allen you okay?" Ezran dentures to ask, "I'm in control" he said, his voice had changed, it had more of a snarl to it, and between each word was a growl, snarl or a grunt.

"Wow" was all Callum could see, "yup" Kaja agreed, popping the P, Rayla let out a whistle.

The story suddenly made a lot of sense, the Djinn that Viren and Hainn had used had cursed him into a werewolf, probably on the same night as when they had encountered the Striga, werewolves only transformed by the moon, some people thought it was when the moon was full was when Werewolves transformed but that was just hopeful misinterpretation.

No matter what moon it was a werewolf would always transform in the presence of the moon, Allen had probably been drawn to the nexus due to its connection to the moon, more than that, he no doubt thought that the 'miracle healer' could heal him.

He probably met Lujanna and was probably disappointed at the truth of the miracle healer, but Lujanna had offered to help him nonetheless as despite being an illusionist she had some knowledge on curses, she probably later realized that his curse was linked to the moon. That probably would make finding a cure easier having vast knowledge about moon magic.

After a briefer version of this explanation they all set off back to bed, Rayla's mind however drifted towards having more of those dreams, the dreams of Viren and his dark magic of Callum and the others imprisoned. She needed space to clear her head, she dashed off back in the direction of the lake.

Callum was the only one to see her go.

Rayla sat on a rock thinking and every now and again, threw a rock into the lake, a rustling distracted her and Callum stumbled out, he immediately tried to straighten himself and again began stumbling on his words.

"Uh Rayla. What you doing out here?" he asked, "oh you know" Rayla said casually but with a annoyed look and added more sarcastically "sneaking off to a quiet place so i could be around other people"

"R-right sorry.." Callum said, "so should i…" he gestured back to the woods, "oh get over here Dummy" Rayla said in exasperation.

There was silence for what seemed to be hours, though only lasted a few minutes, "the big death ceremony didn't do much to distract me in all honesty" Rayla told Callum, "it is a positive spin on death though" Callum said, Rayla had to admit it was but that was just the way Lujanna had worded it.

The deeper meaning, beyond the words, was like a nicely shined sword, it was beautiful but with a deadly but to it, "doesn't seem fair that only Phoenix's gets to come back" she said, "i guess so" Callum said, "but i am glad there are some people who can't come back". Deeper than that, perhaps it was just something that shouldn't happen, at least for humans and elves, if a human came back, they either came back as a hungry Striga or as a vengeful Wraith or something else unspeakable.

Then there were those who deserved rest, who deserved to be left to their eternal sleep. As for people who definitely shouldn't come back, well that was a no brainer, especially not Him

"I'm not thinking about him," Rayla emphasized, tossing another rock into the water, "Lujanna said this is a cycle, not an ending. What does that even mean? Life from death?" she sighed and placed her chin on her crossed arms and bent her legs for support. "My parents aren't going to come back inside some egg. I don't want a metaphor-i just want to see them again, as they are. Real"

She tossed another rock in, with a little more force as anger began building up, the rock making a slightly bigger splash than the previous, "the Nexus used to be a portal…between life and death"

"Yeah Lujanna mentioned that" Callum admitted, "so why can't she open that? Do something useful for once? Open the damn portal and let me check if my parents are actually there?. But all she has is ancy words and fake…Everything!" she groaned in frustration, "trust me" Callum said gently, "i understand what-"

"Do you?!" Rayla snapped, anger taking over, "you wanted me to 'move on' remember?!, you wanted me to forget! To give up!"

Callum got angry at that and it quickly got the better of Callum, "that's not-" he snapped back but rethought his sentence, "your not the only one who lost people Rayla!", "but at least you know!' Rayla yelled right back, "you know what happened to them! I don't have that! I don't have that answer!", "yes i know what happened to them!" Callum yelled losing his temper, "one of the people you're so worried about killed by stepfather!".

That put an end to any more further yelling, the two fell silent, the words stung Rayla like a dagger, and Callum twinge of guilt for ever saying it were just as bad, finally Rayla spoke in angry quiet tone "you haven't moved on" she said, "no one had 'moved on', i haven't. You haven't. The world hasn't."

With that she turned on her heels and made to leave, "keep believing in the illusion if it makes you feel better" and she jumped into the nearest tree and made her way away, Callums face fell, he deeply regretted every bringing it up, but a reassuring hand found its way to his shoulder.

He didn't need to look up to know it was his own cousin, "yelling was keeping everyone up" he explained, "how much did you hear?" Callum asked, "enough to know she has a point" Rigran responded "The wild hunt is still out there.".

Ever since the spire, some truths had to be revealed about the land of the Witchers far overseas, the most important was the legend of the Wild hunt, how they came during winter and would take slaves of both human and elf(despite being elves themselves).

When Dravaan first started making a name for himself over a hundred years ago, no one knew that he had actually come from overseas. This fact had been kept confined to the royal library even after Dravaan had become the king's, Ezrans great grandfather's, counselor.

Most of the guards weren't allowed to read any books that belonged to the restricted section of the library, but the rare few who could knew of Dravaans exploits and of the kingdoms overseas.

However, now that the truth was out, not that it could be helped, everyone seemed to be on edge, everyone seemed to be looking up at the sky nervously searching for the galloping horses that weren't there. And when they looked down everyone assumed they were either checking the weather or contemplating the nice day.

Callum let out a sigh, nodding in agreement "I just wish I could help her" he said, Rockstride appeared next to him, he may not have had enough brain cells to form proper sentences but he knew that Callum needed reassurance, he presented a bottle of Rum Callum, "ere" he said, "drinking helps".

"Thanks really but I'm fine, big guy," Callum said, knowing full well that drinking did not help(in fact sometimes it made things worse), but still appreciating the gesture, Rockstride shrugged and drank the liquid himself.

"You usually find a way, Callum. I'm sure you'll find a way now" Rigran told the step prince.

Unknown location

Rayla walked through the same cave she had before, but in front of her she saw Callum, only Callum, once again frozen in ice, "Callum!" She said too worried to realize something was wrong, so she gently touched the cold therma over her friend.

And it shattered, Callum as well, it all shattered and behind the ice, was Viren.

"Callum!" Rayla yelled in despair as she jolted up in her bed, she recovered quickly and realized that it was just another dream. She was in her bed, in the room she and Callum were sharing, Callum was in the bed opposite.

Sleeping soundly, outside it was morning, "maybe Callum's right after all" she thought to herself, "these dreams are getting worse." That however was easier said than done.

Callum woke up a little later, he looked over and saw that Rayla wasn't in bed, he immediately assumed that she had left, "she didn't even stick around to say hi" he said gloomily as he placed his face between his raised knees.

He grew frustrated with himself for good reason, "I should never have said that" he lamented angrily to himself, "I'm such an idiot. Why do I always say dumb things".

After sighing and calming down he sat back in bed, feeling like he needed some advice.

Lujanna chambers later that morning

Lujanna meditated in her chambers, that was until, "hey Lujanna" Callums voice broke her out of concentration with a rather undignified "Eek!" of surprise, "oh were you meditating" he asked apologetically, "less than before i met you all" she responded, she sighed, she could see something was wrong if Callum wanted to talk to her "what is it?"

"Um i just…" Callum stammered a little embarrassed, "need a little help".

"Let me guess," Lujanna said, quirking an eyebrow as the cogs in her mind worked to guess what it was "romantic trouble?".

"We had a…fight?" Callum said, unsure of the right phrasing to use, "spat? A thing where i said something stupid?".

"Little fights are just part of any relationship" Lujanna said, she would know, she had been in 3 throughout her life, "i- i know" Callum said glumly, "Rayla is in alot of pain and nothing i say seems to help".

Lujanna listened intently as Callum continued pacing up and down the room, "she's stuck worrying about her parents. About what happened to Runann…her mentor. She can't move on, at least not without knowing the truth of what happened!"

"Ah but maybe the truth isn't what she needs" Lujanna said wisely seeing the problem, "or even what she wants".

Callum thought on that, "right" he said thoughtfully, "how many husbands have you had again?", "oh enough to know a thing or two" Lujanna said, "here's a little illusionist wisdom"

She took out something from her pocket, something attached to a string like a necklace, "white lies are an illusion built on words to protect the heart and the ones you love" she said, opening her hand to reveal a pendant which opened to reveal a shining pearl colored substance. "If the truth doesn't work…perhaps you just need to make the right illusion.

"Wi-moon opal?" Callum asked, recognizing the material, a rare material at the best of times, and almost unfindable at the worst, "I was planning to give it to you later," Lujanna explained, smiling sweetly, "but since you're here…"

Callum took the pendent o moon opel and studied it closely, "i was wrong about humans learning magic. This is my apology… and perhaps something that could help. I don't think there is a spell that can assist Rayla, but the moon arcanum is about change and seeing things differently. Maybe that's what you need".

"Maybe" Callum said unconvinced, "i'm still not sure that lying…wait" he stopped as an idea came to mind, he remembered a spell, the spell he had used at the storm spire to find the truth of Rayla's parents, the spell that Lujanna herself had inadvertently taught him.

"Wait. maybe there is a spell" he exclaimed as the plan all came together, "you told me about some sort of portal? The last time I was here. It led to a place between life and death".

"Umm" Lujanna stammered, biting her lip nervously, she had an awful feeling that this conversation was going in the wrong direction.

"With the full moon and the nexus at the height of its power, yes. The moon nexus could indeed become a portal. Sometimes to other planes of existence and even at one point, another world" despite herself she chuckled at the humor fate had as she said the next sentence.

"It was even used in instances like this. To give closure to loved ones. But it was so incredibly dangerous that it was rarely used. Hell it killed at least 5 elves when they opened a portal to another world nearly 1,000 years ago now, when my grandmother was Rayla's age"

Callum however brightened up at that, seeing that Lujanna played her trump card, "besides the moonhenge is in ruins now. Can't open a portal without it" Callums face fell, Lujanna was glad actually, it was far too dangerous, "i suppose not" Callum said, turns out he was not dismayed completely, "but if the moon arcanum is all about change…maybe we can rebuild it. Humans or elves don't have to be so divided anymore so if we all worked together…"

Lujanna had just about had enough, "no '' she said with finality halting Callums speech with a raised hand, "the moonhenge was destroyed for a reason. Humans cannot be trusted with its power" she sighed, "i do hope you find a way to help Rayla, but the ruins must remain the way they are,"

Meanwhile

Allen and Soren soared with Wooden swords, Rigran was elsewhere In a makeshift Witcher training ground he had made the last time they were there.

Kaja was busy reading a book while lying on a low hanging tree branch as the makeshift hammock while Watching Rigran train. Watching the fight excitedly however was Bait(though it was hard to tell) utop the Leshens head, Ezran, Phoe-Phoe, Ava and Elise and finally Rockstride(eating grubs that he was offering to Ellis's ever now and again).

"Woo go Soren" Ezran whooped, "kick his butt Allen" Ellis cheered, "now kids don't go choosing favorites" Allen said wisely. However meanwhile in the trees, a certain female moonshadow elf we all know crouched low with a cunning smile.

Then as the two were swordlocked, Rayla lunged out of the cover of the trees, knocking the sword out of Allen's hand as the two split apart to dodge, before lunging at Soren.

Unlike Allen however, Soren was a lot better trained, he leaned to one side and stuck out his leg and as Rayla went past him she tripped up and fell into a puddle of mudd.

"Hehe I bet you didn't expect that" Soren chuckled, "that was almost really cool Rayla" Ezran said trying to be encouraging, "Sorens just a better fighter"

This didn't exactly help Rayla mood, "I honestly didn't expect that to works" Soren admitted, Rayla gave a awkward laugh, "guess I haven't been on my A-game as of let"

"Hey, maybe you can join in practice to get into shape?" Soren suggested, "Allen made these great practice swords", Allen silently fumed in the background at his latest defeat, he couldn't even win a spare match.

"Maybe in a minute" Rayla, "I actually want to talk to you about something".

alarm bells for some reason went off in Sorens mind, "uh you jump out of a tree- at me- with swords…to talk?" He asked skeptically.

"Well I was going to do some cool moves and embarrass you first but…" Rayla began, "you got your butt handed to you" Eliss added In helpfully from her place on Ava's back. Rayla scowled, flicking the mud off her weapon.

"Well if you need something sure" Soren said, he turned to Allen, "I'll be back so don't run off" he told the large carpenter. "For the record I was winning" he said, "he wasn't" Ezran whispered to the others who all sniggered in agreement.

"Kids these days" Allen grumbled, "no respect"

Moon henge meanwhile

Callum stood in the center of the moonhenge, in his hand was one half of the moon Opal lujanna had given him "alright here goes nothing" Callum said, he crushed the moon opel in his hand, moon energy leapt into his palm as he did so, Callum drew the symbol in the air the moon shaped one that he had inadvertently learned from Lujanna.

"Historia Viventem" he said, the symbol dispersed and shimmered all around him, spectral ghosts of figures, elves, formed around him, many sitting down on their knees, hooded, the rock structures around him, encased in the ghost of their former selves, "wow" Callum said.

What caught his eye the most was the elf that was dancing around him, he memorized every movement she made, every twirl and step finally she stopped in the center and in a voice beautiful but unidentifiable she uttered a draconic word of power.

"Mors Aperta"

The structure glowed bright enough to cause Callum to close one eye before it all vanished in a shimmer, Callum worked it all out in his head as the magic dust fell to the ground, "it is possible" he realized, "maybe"

Back with Soren and Rayla

"So what is it?" Soren asked as casually as he could, given that he had a bad feeling where this might lead, "well" Rayla began, "the night we-" she stopped and corrected herself, "the night the assassins attacked."

"Yeah I was there" Soren confirms, "right in the middle of it", "sorry" Rayla apologized for having to make him remember, "but I need to know. What happened to the others?"

"They were all killed" Soren answered, grimly, my fa-Viren, took their bodies and turned them into…magic stuff I'd guess" that was putting it lightly, "all but one"

Rayla perked up hope in her eyes but cautious as well, "one?" Rayla pressed, "yeah" Soren confirmed, "he made it out to the balcony and fired that magic arrow that turned into that red smoke bird"

"A Shadowhawk arrow?" Rayla asked, hoping to build "that must have been Runann!." But then her face fell, fearful of the answer to the next question, "d-do we really have to talk about this?" Soren asked, looking even graver than before.

"I have to know Soren" Rayla said, as gently as her anticipation would allow, "what did Viren do to him".

Soren sighed and repented, "I don't know" those words made Rayla's heart sink, "we captured him but then…"

He stuck his sword in the ground, "Viren took him, then Hainn showed up not long after. I doubt he lived very long"

"But you don't know?" Rayla asked, Soren tightened his grip on the sword, "i thought i killed my father" he said "at the battle of the storm spire"

He took the sword out of the ground and examined the dirt on it, just to keep his mind from the memory as he continued, "when i saw that i hadn't. That it was an illusion, i was so…relieved" he sighed and lowered the sword, "but maybe it would have been better if i really had done it"

"It bothers you that we never found his body" Rayla said, it wasn't a question, "he's always been good at fooling people" Soren said, that was all the confirmation she needed, "maybe he did it again? Maybe the hunt did something? Hell maybe even Claudia, as much as i hate to think of it…did something. And that's the worst part of it all. Never being sure"

After the day was finished Rayla returned to her and Callum's dorm, Sparring with Soren and Allen had taken some of the worry from her mind but they never went away, Rayla entered and found Callum sitting at the desk, drawing in his book.

"Hey" she said to him, "oh Rayla" Callum said turning to her. The two sat remained in awkward silence not sure what to say. "So I'm..I didn't see you this morning" Callum said.

"Yeah" Rayla said shifting guiltily, "sorry Callum. I just thought Soren might know something about Runann. So I went to talk to him him"

"And?" Callum pressed, "he didn't know" Rayla replied, "oh" Callum said, "but on the plus side" Rayla added peeking up, "we got to spare with the big guy, Allen. He's alright but he barely knows how to hold a sword"

She then noticed that Callum had notes all on his desk along with his drawings, "what's this ?" She asked, "research" Callum replied, "oh more moon magic stuff?" Rayla asked.

"Sort off" Callum responded, "I talked to Lujanna and asked her about the portal. The one you mentioned yesterday…", "the portal?" Rayla questioned, "yes. You said it might help you and uh…" Callum shifted upright, "I might know how to make it work…well maybe".

"Callum are you serious" Rayla pressed, grabbing his hand, "I'm not sure how serious but yes" Callum replied, "we would have to repair it…which will be a problem. Lujanna basically forbidden me to do so and she said it was extremely dangerous…"

"I'm not afraid" Rayla said, Callum didn't doubt that, he also didn't doubt that that would change after his next statement, "you will have to swim to" he finished, all of Rayla's bravado drained away.

"Uh" she said, "it's probably a bad idea anyway" Callim said, "No" Rayla stated.

She looked him dead in the eye, "listen Callum" she said seriously, "Soren was worried about Viren as well. We never found his body. We need to keep looking, we need to know what happened because he is a threat to the whole world.

And this might be the only way to make sure he is really gone"

Then something Callum said before registered, "wait back up. Did you say you could open the portal?" She asked, obviously surprised, Callum nodded, "so you can do moon magic now?" She exclaimed.

Callum winced at the Volume, Callum answered by holding up the remaining moon opal pendant, "well Lujanna gave me the moon opals" he explained, "as a gift. Of course, she also explicitly forbade me from messing with the portal, "so" Rayla pressed knowing Callum had a plan for that, "we'll just lie to her. She is an illusionist she would do the same thing"

Rayla was skeptical, "i don't know if it makes that not "probably not" Callum admitted "but as Lujanna said, 'white lies are illusion we build with words to protect the heart and those we love", "well alright if it gets me answers" Ralya said, "but i'm going in alone".

"wha-Rayla…" Callum protested, "no" Rayla interrupted, "you said it was dangerous. I'm not risking the both of us" Callum sighed knowing how stubborn she could be, "fine" he relented with a shrug "but the second it seems like your in trouble, i'm jumping in" Rayla opened her mouth to protest but Callum beat her to the punch, "sorry that's the way it is".

Rayla sighed knowing how equally stubborn Callum could be when he wanted to, "all right you big idiot." she said, "thank you"

The two touched foreheads passionately, "i hope you find out about your parents, and runann" Callum said sincerely, "me too" Rayla replied.

Next morning

Allen was ina hut he had built in the forest, Callum and Rayla walked up to find him carving some wooden strips of a plank with a knife, "hello Allen" Rayla greeted, Callum looked at the hut, actually it was more of a house with a large outside workspace. "So how's wood chopping?" he asked.

"Oh hello you two. How can i help?" he asked, Rayla however began examining the house, "this is pretty good" she said knocking on a wooden beam, it was very sturdy and almost perfectly cylindrical, "your a better carpenter than a fighter"

"Thank you?" Allen said not sure whether to feel praised or insulted, "anyway" Callum said, "we're looking for a little help building something. Actually rebuilding something"

He put down a set of prints on the table, Allen put on a pair of glasses and looked at them, "a little help?" He asked to see the scale of the design. Then he noticed that it looked awfully like the moonhenge.

"Does Lujanna know about this?" He asked, "well no" Callum admitted thinking in his feet, "it'll be a surprise! She loves surprises".

"Sure" Allen agreed always ready to give Lujanna a pleasant surprise, "though she's the one who usually does the surprising"

"Allen. Things are changing" Rayla said, "elves and humans aren't so divided anymore. The moonhenge was destroyed because Elves were afraid of humans. Thought they were evil. But they were wrong.Maybe it's time to build something new from these old ruins. Show that humans and elves can work together".

Callum took up the talking, "but for noe we need to keep this a secret from her, okay?" he said, "white lies are an illusion built on words to protect the heart and the ones you love".

"Well" Allen said, "that does sound like something Lujanna would say, and it would be fun to pull one over on ol' Janey-Lu…But" he pointed to the design, "this is a big protect, we'd need a team-stonemasons laborers, all kinds off people, and you couldn't hide that."

"True" Callum said cunningly, "but what if we just rebuild the structure, just to get it started?. There's some big ruble we could get back into place…see" Allen picked up the design and got a closer look at it, he seemed impressed, "these are really good drawings" he complimented, "thanks" Callum said.

"But we have the same people. How are we going to hide everything?" Allen continued to press, "well what if we don't hide it?" Callum said, for a second Allen looked at him blankly, then he got the idea, "oh i see" he said, Rayla was still baffled, "see what?" she asked.

"Rigran could use his Sign to dissuade Lujanna." Callum explained "Then we can build it without making her suspicious" Rayla saw now, "and i build scaffolding for her all the time" Allen added, "and anyway, most of the time before the full moon, she's meditating"

"I'll go get Rigran then, and Kaja, Soren and Rockstride to help with the work" Rayla said and zipped off, "oh this will be fun" Allen said.

Lujanna walked through the forest towards Allen's place, when she got there, she found Allen with Callum appearing to work on something, "whats this?" she asked, "oh!" Callum said in surprise and thinking on his feet thought of a explanation "it's for big illusion!", he hurriedly hide his book behind his back, Allen did the same with his hammer.

Lujanna looked skeptical, "I don't remember asking for anything quite this big?" She noted, "it's for Callum," said Rigrans voice. She jumped for the second time that day, but she calmed down when she realized it was Rigran.

Rigran formed the sign of Axii and the moment her eyes lay on it she was under its power, "it's a shrine to help him learn moon magic. You did say he should" he let the sign disappear and take effect, "i suppose i did say he should" Lujanna said. But convinced she walked away, "rather a large shrine but owe well, Humans like to think big"

However behind her, Rigran winked at Callum.

The work went on schedule, it would take until the next full moon though, sooner if they worked hard, thanks to Axii it was a little easier to sneak all of the obvious past Lujanna, not enough to dissuade her completely, she had a strong mind, but enough to make a simple skeptical.

Rockstride helped Soren and Allen with the heavy lifting, he may not have been smart but damn did he get a job done well.

He was also good at following instructions. Ellis, Ava, Ezran and baby Phoe-Phoe played the whole time, they were glad to get a few extra weeks while Bait either relaxed or joined in(on the rare occasion) and the Leshen just wondered and minded its own business, sometimes however they saw him collecting animal bones. Even extracting them from the fresh corpses of animals.

At Night Allens werewolf form became useful as he could stay up and get some extra work done with Rockstride who didn't really need any sleep, being a troll. Their excuse to Opeli was that there had been a landslide which had to be removed before they could move on.

"More paperwork" Opeli sighed as she read the letter, even Dravaan was looking nacked after all the paperwork and jobs that needed to be done. The weeks past and turned into Months, the crescent moon turned to a quarter empty moon, then to a half moon, the days seemed to speed up as it reached.

After the first month, it was time for Rigrans bandages to be removed, "i could give you an illusion to hide the scars" she had offered, after all she had fooled everyone with the illusion of a wolf leg, facial scars were child's play, "i think i'll keep them thanks" Rigran said.

Kaja removed the bandage, the scarring had healed rather well actually, they were mostly on the left side of his face, the vague cut down his face over his eye from Hainns oversized sword shadowed by the burn marks of Malum's handprint, burnt into his skin forever.

"How is it?" Rigran asked, "doesn't make you less handsome if thats what your worried about" Kaja replied handing the young Witcher a mirror, his left side seemed to be the side that suffered the most for some odd reason, first his left hand was burnt when he had let that bomb go off inside the krakens stomach. The acids further damage the skin beyond repairing it to normal.

But that was easily covered up with a glove, every Witcher had their scars and every scar had their story that a bard would sing, Walter was still trying to concucked a song for all their little adventures to Xadia. Talking about scars didn't slow down the work at all.

Finally the night of the full moon came and work was finished when the last stone was placed, unfortunately it was where Bait had been relaxing and he was forced to move or get squashed, he wasn't happy at that so he retired early for the night.

"Hey-we did it" Panted Rayla exhausted, "damn this is why i became a blacksmith" Kaja muttered, "this was…" Soren said breathing had lying down on his aching back, "one of the dumber things I've agreed to do."

"Does that rank with assassinating the princes, or invading Xadia?" Eliss asked innocently, Rigran chuckled, as Soren looked embarrassed, "wait all that's true?" Allen inquired in his werewolf form snarling in between each syllable, "huh".

"Well that was the last one" Callum said, "we actually did", "and in the nick of damn time to' Rigran said pointing upwards, "if we had taken another month, we would have to wait for the next full moon"

"Think that's all i have in me anyway" Allen said, "why don't we all take a breather tonight and then show Lujanna our work in the morning, "alright, we'll see yah in the morning then" Kaja said, "good work team" Rayla said with a thumbs up, "yeah i'm going to need a minute" a breathless Callum said.

"Goodnight" Rigran called to the Allen and Soren as they retreated back to retire for the night, or rather, so Soren to retire for the night, as a werewolf, Allen didn't need sleep as he was nocturnal in this form.

"So are we going to do this?" Callum asked, "it's now or never" Rayla replied, "so what should we do?" Kaja asked, Rigran was less optimistic, "are we sure sticking a few rocks back into place will work?" he asked.

"These looked like the important parts" Callum said, "when i used the memory spell", Rayla looked a little concerned, "hey it will work" Callum said, then with less certainty, "probably.

Callum got into position, and began by crushing the Moon Opel in hand and then mimicked the movements of the elf he had seen, allowing the magic to flow around him and into the henge "what are you doing?" Rayla asked, Callum felt a little embarrassed, "honestly no idea just following the ritual i saw" he admitted, Rigran muttered a sarcastic "great".

As the dance continued however something did seem to be happening, the symbols on the rocks began to glow as Callum swayed and swirled, the interesting thing was that the rocks seemed to be peaking themselves back together, pressing against one another creaking the wood "are you dancing?" Rayla asked rather amused.

"Uh?" Callum stammered rather embarrassed as everyone watched in amusement, "oh what the hey" Kaja said and joined in, dancing even more elegantly, Rayla joined in, "your doing Great" Rayla said to Callum.

"Come on Rigran" Kaja beckoned grabbing Rigrans arm, Rigran had never been a good dancer so he protested but ultimately was forced to join in, and he found that even he was having fun, while not as fluid as the others his movement weren't as stiff as when he would normally be dancing.

Then there was a Crack and the much of wood that was holding up the nexus began to splinter or fall away, "uh Callum" Rayla asked stopping dancing as she looked worriedly at a plank of wood holding up the top of one pillar, Rigran and Kaja also stopped seeming just as worried.

"What happens when we finish the spell?" Kaja asked, suddenly concerned, "let's find out" Callum said as he twirled one final time and lifted his hand into the air. The henge glowed as bright as the moon. Now it was time, "Mors Aperta" Callum evoked.

The result was amazing, the henge suddenly repaired itself, the original rocks snapping together into place and a shockwave of light light up the land, however the aftermath was that the spare rocks and bits of wood they was exorcized as foreign objects and fell away, everyone present quickly dived to cover.

Not to far away, Lujanna saw the light and heard the sound, her mind worked it all out, the effects of Axii Rigran had put on her months of go disappeared, "they couldn't" she whispered, but immediately realized she was incorrect in this statement, as for one they obviously had, and two, she had said humans couldn't learn primal magic and Callum had gone and done just that on her own.

"They woundn't-" she corrected, but it was obvious they had, as the lake now glowed a bright spectral glow, she immediately ran towards the moonhenge, passing Soren, Rockstride and Allen in the process, "where-" Allen began but Lujanna was already out of earshot.

"Did it work?" Rayla asked, "i don't know" Callum admitted, "well the lakes glowing so i think it did" Rigran pointed out, "stop" Lujanna's voice cut through the air, they saw her running full tilt towards them, "get to the Nexus" Callum urgently told Rayla, they couldn't let Lujanna stop them now.

Rayla didn't hesitate, she bolted towards the lake, however when she got close to the edge she stumbled and fell of the edge, entirely arms and legs flailing as the water of the lake came up unforgivingly to meet her, she had just enough time to curse her bad luck and remember how mush she hated water before she was submerged

The others, including a furious Lujanna came down to the waters edge, just as Rayla's body resurfaced, she was alive, but she seemed to be unconscious as she bobbed up and down in the water. "What did you do?" Lujanna demanded angrily, no one could really answer.

Rayla gasped in a lungful of air as she swam to shore, and staggered out of the black oil colored water, "water…" she coughed "it had to be….water" why couldn't it be anywhere else, the world seemed to have changed color. Imagine that you have suddenly gone colorblind, or if you are imaging that you suddenly could see color normally. Imaging how All the colors you see, such as the color of the leaves, seem different to what your used to, how out of place it would feel, how alien it feels, how unusual perhaps.

This is what it felt like to Rayla, everything around her was just so vivid and vibrant, so spectral and astral, she felt rather out of place, yet everything was shaped familiarly, the forest was the same, but the moonhenge, when she saw it, was whole, and not torn down.

Rayla refocused on her task, "okay Viren. My parents, and Runann" she muttered to herself time and against to remind herself, she felt like she had already been there for hours on end, "Mom…Dad…Are you here?" she called as she walked through the forest, "anyone?"

Then suddenly, she felt eyes upon her back and the whisper of dark shadowed words, she whirled around swords drawn, "what was that?" she wondered.

CRA-BOOM

"EEK" Rayla jumped at the sudden sound, then she felt drops of water on her face, then she felt more pelt her body, she realized what she heard was thunder and what now it was raining, "urgh, great more water" Rayla groaned.

She continued to move through the forest in the cold weather, she looked around her, until she caught the outline of something, what was it? A castle?

Oh by Sol regem blind eyes, it was Katalis castle, the kings castle, Rayla stared at it in shock, she couldn't have walked all the way from the henge to the castle in all that time, it just wasn't possible, a crack of thunder illuminated the castle ominous.

"it's just like that night" she realized, "before the attack", before the assasination of the king, when she had spared that soldier, and inadvertently caused the dragon prince egg to be found.

Maybe her answers were there, she ran towards the castle, not knowing the shadowing figures form behind her, weapons ready to kill.

Back in the waking world, everyone had gathered and watched Rayla bob up and down in the water, it had really only been 5 minutes but it felt like 5 tense hours.

"Is there anything we can do" Callum asked, the still fuming Lujanna, "is she okay?" Eliss asked, "is she okay?!" Lujanna nearly exploded, "for now. But she certainly isn't safe"

She turned on Callum, "I told you this was far too dangerous. I told you not to try anything" she sighed and punched the bridge of her knows. "Honestly I guess I thought you couldn't do it rather than focus on whether you would do it…huh me underestimating humans again"

Perhaps this would make her finally learn her lesson.

"Can't we just pull her out?" Callum asked, reaching out with one hand, "ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Lujanna panicked, yelling at the top of her voice and grabbing Callums hand, "if we pull her out now. Her mind will stay trapped on the other side. Her body will just be an empty husk" she released Callums hand.

Then turned back to Rayla's body, "we'll just have to wait. That's all we can do. Wait and hope she finds her way back. If the sun rises before then, the portal will close and she will be lost forever"

Back in the other world.

Rayla moved through the forest, she was now well aware of the black shadow figures chasing her above her in the tree's, however she suddenly misstepped and found herself sliding down a familiar small slop, she landed on her feet but a little unsteady.

She steady herself quickly as the shadow figures were now infront of her, and she realized they had the shape of moonshadow elves, and not just any moonshadow elves, but her fellow assassins.

At first she thought these were just ghosts of her past manifested to by this worlds laws to haunt her, but then she saw that on their left hands, was the moonshadow binding, the binding that would only drop if Ezran was killed.

Her heart sank as she realized what was happening, even in death they were bound, there souls unable to rest, the only one missing, was Runann, he wasn't among them.

"Traitor!" accused one of the assassin's Rayla recognized her as Andromeda, she had been 2 years older than her, the second youngest in the group, she favored a single short sword as he weapon, "what good is an assassin who's afraid to kill"

The others lunged, Ram with with her scythe, Skor with his staff and Callisto with his duel double sided daggers, Rayla raised her sword and blocked Andromeda's sword, "you lied to us!" she yelled as Rayla pushed her back, Skor the third youngest lunged at her with his staff, the blade just missed Rayla's face, "you let the humans live. But you killed as all!' he yelled, he bashed Rayla with the blunt end of his spear, then Ram shoulder charged her and knocked her into the wall.

Rayla staggered up as the Assassins surrounded her, "and you doomed us to this hell" Andromeda said, the words hit like an icicle to the heart, "no" she said, "that's not what happened..", "DIE" Skor yelled swinging his spear, "Wait" someone yelled and grabbed the spear before it could complete it's swing, it was Callisto, the oldest and most experience of the assassins.

"Look at her wrist" he said, they did as he told, and found that her binding was done, one by one their own bindings evaporated, looks of peace came over them, "y-you didn't doom us" Skor said, "you completely your task" Callisto said sounding proud, "thank you and well done Rayla" he said as he and the others vanished.

This was more than Rayla could take, "no that's not what happened, the dragon prince was alive…" but they were already gone, "i didn't kill anyone. I didn't want to" she finished weakly, the words made her mind flash to when she had beheaded the Vampire, to save her village, the first time she had killed. All her village friends it had killed, all the men and woman who died at the battle of the spire the death of the king by her fellow assassins.

"None of this should have happened" she said to herself, Virens mocking face appearing in her minds eye, "no one had to die if he hadn't…if he" he anger didn't let her finish as it built up inside of her and she finally had enough, "VIREN! WHERE ARE YOU!" he roared to the heavens.

FWIP

That sound snapped her out of her anger, suddenly she was in a cave, not like the ones in her dreams, there was no stars, or blue ice or vines twisting around the edges, but down deeper, there was a blue light, she walked towards it and rounded the corner.

What she saw made her drop her swords, there, suspended by strands, was a cocoon and wrapped inside the cocoon, was Viren, "this can't be" she said, she picked up her swords and walked towards it, she touched it with the point.

Virens eyes snapped open. Rayla jumped back with an inhaling gasp of shock and suddenly she was in water, luckily her subconscious had told her body to hold her breath before she registered. She was still recovering from the first heart attack when a astral, ghost hand grabbed her shoulder and began to pull down.

Real world

Rayla thrashed violently in the water and suddenly was pulled down like a shark does to a swimmer "Rayla!" Callum yelled running up to jump in, Lujanna restrained him, "Wait!" she yelled as the others gathered worriedly at the edge of the nexus.

"Let me go, she needs me," Callum said, struggling her surprisingly strong grip. "If you do that, you'll be trapped In life and death for good," Lujanna said.

However Ezran suddenly had an idea, Phoe-Phoe was in his hands and he remembered how she had a special connection to life and death.

He turned to Lujanna with the theory, "Lujanna didn't you say that a moon phoenix has a special magical tether to life and death?"

Lujanna looked to him, "Wha- well yes" she confirmed, "why?", Ezran turned to the bird, "Phoe-phone we need a feather, the baby phoenix obliged and plucked a single feather from her body.

Everyone now knew Ezrans plan, Rigran rushed to some small rocks, "need these?" Rockstride asked Rigran a length of rope. Rigran was too grateful to be surprised at Rockstride figuring it all out as fast as any of them.

"This will keep you tethered to the living world" Ezran explained, as Rigran tied the rocks around Callum's waist so that he could descend easier "and whatever you do don't let go" Lujanna warned.

"Thanks guys' ' Callum said gratefully, then he was unexpectedly picked up by the Leshen and tossed in an undignified manner into the lake. Everyone swore Leshen looked satisfied as he did so.

Spirit world

As Callum swam down he saw Rayla being dragged down and down by not just one hand of a ghost but by a multitude of them swarming and phasing together so it was impossible to count them, the water soon changed and became an oily black of the spirit world, but he could still see through it in a odd way, he swam further and faster down and down the rock attached to him helping him get enough weight to help sink.

This reminded him uncomfortable of when he had dived off the storm spire to save her, only this time he had a plan that he knew would succeed and not just the whims of luck.

He tried to ignore the pressure hurting his ears and continued, Rayla tiredly raised up her hand, Callum grabbed that hand, holding her tight as the ghosts pulled her down, Callum untied the ropes around his waist, and took the feather from his pocket. Then one of the ghost grabbed him, he yelped and his grip on the feather released, still holding Rayla he made a grab for the feather and tried to swim up, but it was already to far up for them to reach and the ghosts had already dragged them to far down.

Suddenly the two could breath hair and were touching ground, this was so sudden that it took both of them a moment to register, Rayla a little longer as she was stilling back to her senses, they were back in the spirit world and completely dry.

Unfortunately they were surrounded by the souls of many warriors, holding weapons and none looking like they wanted a friendly chat, backed up against the rock structure "what are you doing here?" Rayla asked in exasperation, "now we are both trapped".

"Don't worry we just need to get the feather" Callum said, Rayla hadn't been expecting this, "what?" She asked confused as she blocked a ghost's ethereal sword.

"It can guide us home" Callum explained pointing, Rayla looked up to where he was pointing, suddenly she understood as she saw one of Phoe-Phoe feathers floating the sky above them, creating ripples as if she was looking up at it from underwater. Perhaps because in a way she was.

"Can you get it?" Callum asked, "i can try-" Rayla began but then something came at her from the edge of her peripheral vision and she only just managed to raise her swords up in time as whatever it was hit her with the force of a dragon's tail and she was knocked into the side of the rock structure.

The something then swung at Callum, and he rolled out of the way before jumping back as it swung downwards and would have crushed him if he hadn't jumped back, the two readied themselves to face whatever it was. The wrathful spirits were no longer wrathful, but fearful, they screamed and yelled in fear as they began to disappear.

The being was made of the same black oil that Rayla's ghost had been, the two backed up as they saw the figure, he was big, big as Hainn, and armored just as heavily in armor that resembled that of a skeleton with black spike decoration on the back, his face covered by a helmet, in one hand he held a shield and in the other he held a massive club, to big to be wielded one handed but this being was doing just that.

"Who are you?" Callum ventured to ask, "i am your lord, bow and be my slaves in this realm, or become non-existant" he said, "you wouldn't happen to be a friend of Hainn would you?" Rayla asked, "Hainn? Criorbrihainn?" the figure demanded, the two nodded, "That bastard with the Tainted blood! He is nothing but a myth!" he roared, he lunged towards the two swinging his mace down, "NOW KNEEL?".

"Easy there big guy" Rayla taunted, Callum meanwhile drew a symbol for an attack, "Fulminos" he said and shot lightning at the specter who blocked it was his shield despite staggering back a little. "What do you mean by tainted blood?" Callum asked, "are you Aelder as well? Wild hunt?"

The specter let out a dry chuckle, "so you know of us." he laughed with pride banging his shield with his mace "Yes, i am Imlerith second in command of the wild hunt, right hand of King Eredin…speak of the devil" "Callum!" Rayla cried in panic, Callum whirled around just in time to be backhand by a second figure, this one had a helmet that looked like a skull with spikes jutting out the top like a crown, he was even bigger than the first one, Imlerith.

"This must have been Eredin" Callum realized,they radiated the same primordial power that Criorbrihainn and Malum did, but they seemed somehow scarier with their skeletal armor.

Eredin reached down and grabbed Callum by the throat lifting him up, off the ground, "hey drop him" Rayla demanded about to rush forward, but a third specter suddenly materialized behind her and trapped her in a vice grip with a large staff, this one had a less skeletal design but he was still very much intimidating, "well done Caranthir, your magic has served us all well" said Eredin to the new specter, Caranthir.

Caranthir nodded as he released Rayla and pushed her to the ground, here he pointed his staffat her, Imlerith leveled his mace for extra assurance, "young elf. You will get the feather for us to return" Eredin said, "or what?" Rayla said defiantly even though she already knew the answer, but then another question came to her, one she didn't know the answer to "and how are you even here?".

"This is the ethereal plane, the realm of life and death. Here we are reborn, and it is from here we shall return to rule" Caranthir explained, "and then she will be ours", "she?" Callum asked but then Eredin tightened his grip on him, "we have indulged you enough, and as for what happens…" he put callum back on his feet before shoving him away.

Less than a second after he got his breath back, Caranthir shot a blast of icy magic from his staff and allum was frozen solid, not like in her dream but a bolt of fear still entered her as the memory of her most recent dream came back. Callum being shattered, killed and Virens face smiling at her, Eredin might not have been Viren, but he seemed somehow worse.

"Retrieve the feather" Eredin said leveling his sword onto Callums shoulder, "or i'll start turning the one you love into chops", the answer really was a no brainer in the trio's opinion but Rayla was conflicted, if they escaped, Callum and herself would be lost for good, and the mortal realm would be in great danger, but if she didn't than Callum was as good as dead anyway, and she would be a slave, not that that worried her as much as Callums safety. At least this way, she could think of a plan on the get go.

"Alright" she said reluctantly, "but i'm going to need a boost" Eredin nodded towards Imlerith who grunted and stopped his mace and stuck his shield upright in the ground, he crouched slightly and put his hands together, Rayla got a running start, jumped onto the Aelders hands who then shot them upwards, boosting her towards up and up and she grabbed the feather and began descending and landed on the ledge.

Her heart pointed as she looked at the feather, she had done it "here now" Eredin said impatiently the adrenaline dramatically disappeared, her heart sank, no plan formed as Eredin still had the sword at Callums shoulder. Rayla, disheartened, jumped down, the others watching her warrily but calmly as victory seemed most definitely assured.

Eredin outstretched his hand and Rayla reluctantly stretched hers prepared to give him it, "yes soon we will be fr…"

SHINK

Time seemed to have frozen as everyone wondered what just happened, crouching in between Rayla and Eredin, sword down as if he or she had just slashed it downwards, was a newcomer, something fell to the ground next to the newcomer, a hand. "What?" Eredin whispered, confusion and bewilderment intertwined in his voice. The hand looked horrible familiar, he turned to his own arm and found that his hand had been cut off.

"MY HAND!" he Roared as the blood exploded out of the injury in black oily gushes, the former Wild hunt king inadvertently threw his sword away as his other hand went to grasp the stump, the newcomer, glad in cloak, hood pulled up so they couldn't see who it was and silver sword still poised, disappeared in a display of green mist.

"It's here !she's here!" Caranthir exclaimed in shock.

She then reappeared next to Callum and grabbed his shoulder, the two disappeared and then reappeared on the ledge, Callum was unfrozen and fell to his hands and knees panting heavily in shock. "Oh boy" he breathed to calm down, the figure disappeared again, by now the other two wild hunt members had recovered and swung their weapons at Rayla.

Rayla was quick however and ducked and weaved between the attacks, but then Cararnthir blasted a magical blast of ice and froze her foot solid and tripped her up landing on her front she turned around to see Imlerith beginning swinging his mace downwards, she closed her eyes and waited for the end, but then the newcomer reappeared behind the mace wielder, grabbed his shoulder like he/she did with Callum and teleported him in mid swing.

He finished his swing 5 feet away facing the opposite direction and once he realized what had happened he swung back around hoping to hit the newcomer.

But he or she disappeared again, but quickly reappeared beside Rayla, grabbed her and teleported her back up to the cliff, "Rayle your okay" Callum said relieved giving her a big hug, the two grasped each other warmy "you two best leave" said the newcomer, the turned to the newcomer, her voice was female so at least they new she was a she.

But as they looked under the hood they saw her eyes, they had a steady green glow that illuminated her face, they could see a scar over one eye but nothing else, but then they looked down to her neck. There was a pendant, a pendant that was shaped like a wolf, the same way Rigran and Dravaans medallion were shaped like a Manticore.

"Are you a Witcher?" Callum asked, the newcomer looked surprised, "you know of them?" she asked but then a roar of, "FIND HER!" echoed down bellow, "we'll talk later" she decided, "you two go, i'll find my own way out, afterwards we can talk"

"Can you handle them?" Callum asked, "they are just Shells of their former selves, they fool themselves otherwise. I killed them once" the woman said, "I can kill them as many times as I need"

The two didn't have any better plans and this woman seemed very insistent so they nodded, the woman then disappeared and they saw her do battle with the three wild hunt warriors. Rayla and Callum meanwhile still holding each other, looked at the feather as Rayla held it up, suddenly they were floating like they were in water, they could still breath but at least they knew where to go.

"Swim" Callum said swimming upwards as the battle below continued, very fiercely considering it's small scale, the two swam and swam and suddenly they felt the need to hold their breath as the sky became darker and darker but with the light of the moon up at the surface, up and up the oxygen slowly leave their lungs the water pressure squeezing them and stabbing at their ears and foreheads.

They were almost there and…

YES

They made it to the surface, the two panted heavily and looked rather ragged, they were cold and sore in the forehead and ears popping. However Rigran waded into the shallows and swam over to them and once they had swam close enough, helped them to land where they collapsed, Kaja made a medium sized fire in her hands and held it close to the two in order to warm them up.

"What happened?" she inquired, "we'll explain later" Rayla panted shivering, she turned to Callum, "you okay?" she asked, "yeah" Callum nodded then he hugged her tightly, "i was so worried about you" he said sincerely. Rayla hugged him reassuringly back, "yeah you know i really hate water" she responded jokingly "that was pretty awful" Callum laughed back.

The two then kissed each other, relieved that they were alive, the others watched just as relieved.

Early the next morning

Callum and Rayla sat on the rock where they had a fight the previous night, "how are you doing?" Callum asked.

Rayla let out a sigh, "I don't know," she admitted, "I didn't find my parents. Runann, I still have no answer but…"

She stopped and breathed to calm herself, tears formed in her eyes, "there gone Callum" she choked out, there she had said the truth, "i have to face it. But I am never going to be okay with that. Callum hugged once again for reassurance, "I'm always here for you," he said.

He decided to change the subject, "maybe we should have a real vacation. With less ghosts. Maybe we can go back to xadia and spend some time exploring…" Rayla wasn't easily swayed, "Callum" she said, Callum went silent and let her continue, "i may not have found my parents, or Runann but…i found Viren"

"What?" Callum said surprised.

"He was in some kind of weird…magic cocoon. Not like anything else I saw there" she pinched the bridge of her nose as the memories came back to haunt her, "but..this means he's gone right?. You just saw his ghost" Callum said perhaps too hopefully.

"Right before you found me…before we met those other Wild hunts. He opened his eyes and right then I knew" she took a breath to steady herself, "he may be caught between life and death…somehow…but Viren is on this side of things. He's alive, I know it's Callum".

Callum was not convinced, "I don't know. Half of that stuff I saw in there. I just don't understand", "he is alive" Rayla continued not seeming to hear this, "and i need to make sure he never hurts anyone ever again."

Callum knew she wasn't going to be convinced otherwise, but he wasn't going to leave her to go off alone because of it, "okay Rayla i believe you" he said with as much conviction as he could muster up to make it at least sound convincing. "We should go back, warn the others, if he's in the real world then we'll find him."

Rayla upon hearing this leapt to her feet, "no! i'm going alone" she said, Callum looked at her in concern, "Viren has Taken away everyone i love - everyone except you. I can't risk you coming with me". This belief was backed up by what had happened earlier, her dream of Callum being trapped and shattered had almost come true, while it might not have been at Virens hands she just couldn't go through something like that again.

she couldn't let Callum, or any of her friends die or suffer a fate worse than death, not if she could help it.

Callum however was not so easily dissuaded, as she tried to leave, he grabbed her hand, "no your not doing this without me…or the others" Callum said sternly, "i let you jump into the nexus alone. And I knew right away I had made a mistake. The biggest mistake of my life.".

Rayla averted her eyes guilty, "i could have lost you" Callum continued, "we do this together. And don't try to change my mind".

Rayla sighed, but she knew that she couldn't argue, "alright" she relented, "we'll go…together", "good" Callum said relieved that she hadn't tried to argue, "we'll leave first thing tomorrow. Together, that is the most important thing. Together" he emphasized.

Rayla allowed a small chuckle to escape her, "i never want to lose you either" she said as her other hand took his, "i love you Callum", "i love you too" Callum responded, the two then left to go for breakfast.

However they had been watched by Rigran, he was not so convinced and worried about what was going to happen.

Mid-day

Rigran walked up to the Leshen, who was busy picking out the bones of another strange creature, it was awfully similar to the large canine beast they had saw when they had first battled the Striga, "hey" Rigran beckoned, the Leshen turned and frowned at him, at least that was Rigrans impression.

guess Leshens just didn't like anything in their territory by nature, even if this one was willing to negotiate and help defend the nexus with Lujanna. "Look, I know you understand me. So can I ask you a favor" he asked, the Leshen snorted but didn't turn away frowning at him expectantly, Rigran decided that his que to continue.

"While you are patrolling tonight, can you keep an eye out for Rayla leaving?. If she leaves, don't try to stop her, but follow her to the edge of your territory, we can(hopefully) pick up her trail from there." he said, "and if we can't then we can at least know when she left and where she was heading"

The Leshen let out a small moan and nodded before turning back to its work, "thanks" Rigran said, the Leshen waved a dismissive hand and Rigran left it to its work as it used its sharp claws to skin the creature.

That night

Rayla placed the note, the blue feather attached, on her pillow, she picked up her packed bag and walked over to Callums bed where he slept. "White lies are illusioned built with words to protect the heart, and those you love" she recited, over the sleeping Callum, "i'm sorry but you can't come with me. I'll see you around Callum" and with that she kissed him gently on the forehead.

However as she exited the sanctuary she noticed that there was a tree in the dead woods that had a mass of black leaves on it, "hmmm odd don't remember that tree being alive" she said, but she shrugged it off and carried on. Unaware that at least a hundred if not more, dimly glowing green eyes opened from the tree.

One of the pairs of eyes took off from the others, in the eye sockets of one of the Leshens ravens, it followed her like Rigran said, up until the edge of its territory, which spanned until halfway down the mountain. The next morning Callum didn't need to read the letter to know what had happened. And when the Leshen had guided Rigran to where Rayla had left her territory, he quickly lost her trail.

Rayla had left, and no one knew where she was