I had been instructing Juno in the mastery of the shadow element, in addition to the other two elements she shared with Zephyrion: ice and wind. Each element had its own teacher, but I was the sole guide in the art of shadows. Her twin sister, Luna, was a constant presence, always curious and supportive, occasionally posing a challenge. She frequently attempted to echo Juno’s shadowy movements, hoping to ignite a similar power within herself.

One day, as Juno was honing her shadow form, Luna reached out to intercept her. I shouted a warning, fearing a disruption to Juno’s focus or worse. Yet, it was already too late. Luna’s wing swept through Juno’s form, and for a fleeting moment, Luna too became a shadow. She then reverted to her normal self, looking both startled and amazed.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in my mind, “I did it.” Confused, I mentally queried, “What?” A glance at Luna revealed her intense gaze fixed on me. It dawned on me that the voice had originated from her. To confirm my suspicion, I mentally responded, “You did it?” She nodded and verbalized her confusion, “Sorry, what’s going on?” I continued the mental dialogue, assuring her, “I believe you've discovered a new ability that even I was unaware of.” She gasped in disbelief, exclaiming, “No way, I can read your mind!” I confirmed, “Yes, you can. And I can read yours. Well done.” Her grin broadened as she turned to Juno, eager to test her newfound ability.

As she focused on Juno, their silent exchange began. I interrupted their mental conversation, announcing, “We must study this phenomenon, myself included. This is a remarkable new ability. Good job, Luna.” They both responded in unison, in my mind, “Yes, father, we will do our best.” I smiled, replying mentally, “I know you will. Let’s start working on it. I wish to learn it too.” Thus, we embarked on our exploration of mind reading, discovering how to perform it across distances and block each other from doing so. We concluded that a shadow dragon could not only learn this ability but also prevent others from invading their privacy.

A few days later, concern arose about Akira and Fyrenthos, who had been away on a mission for too long. When Leo visited our kingdom, we asked him to deliver a message to Aura. He agreed and departed with the message in hand. Aura arrived at our kingdom a few days later, her face etched with seriousness. She brought with her peculiar devices that resembled radios from my past life as a human. Despite my dragon form's clumsiness with such small devices, my human memories allowed me to understand their operation.

The strange technologies brought by the SunFlares, and Aura, sparked a mix of curiosity and distrust in me. I was particularly drawn to the radio, which had a red LED blinking ominously next to a symbol of danger.

Aura explained that the light started flashing after the radio emitted a distressing sound. She pointed out the same symbol on one of the buttons, a red one. I deduced it was a distress signal, activated by our "SunFlares" for unknown reasons.

Before I could investigate further, I asked Aura to teach me how to shapeshift back into a human. I required my original form to handle such delicate devices. She demonstrated how to recall my previous appearance and use either the light or the dark element to reshape myself. It was surprisingly straightforward. I performed the transformation for the first time, hidden from curious eyes. Only Aura and Freya were privy to my transformation. I desired to keep this secret from others for the time being.

I crafted some tools to disassemble and reassemble the radio. Inside, I found a dark crystal powering it. However, it was no ordinary dark crystal. It jolted me with a shock when I touched it. It was a hybrid of dark and electric elements, something I had never encountered before. I set it aside to examine the other components. There was a PCB similar to one I had repaired in a radio during my military service. It was both exhilarating and terrifying to find such advanced technology in a world where electricity was unheard of in most places, especially our kingdom.

The dark crystal led me to suspect a connection between this radio and the shadow dragons, the rare and enigmatic kind to which my daughters and I belonged. I only knew of two other shadow dragons: the dark lord who haunted my nightmares, and Erebus, who had vanished without a trace. The SunFlares had also revealed where they had pilfered these devices from, which suggested the existence of more shadow dragons.

My fear intensified. The blinking light might indeed have been a distress signal. I could have saved someone's life.

I decided to share everything with Aura and Freya. Aura supported my decision, but Freya was hesitant. She reminded me that we had a son, two daughters, and Akira's son to care for. We had a kingdom to rule and a vast area of influence to oversee. But I had a plan to rescue the SunFlares. I was determined to help Akira and Fyrenthos. Despite their past mishaps, they had already far redeemed themselves and now served us. They possessed important information.

Of course, Freya was initially angry and against my plan, but I managed to convince her. She then even pledged to accompany me on my missions.

One small problem was that we had to delegate the kingdom's rule during our absence. So we chose Vesper. He had the makings of a leader and a king, ready to take over should anything happen to us. Unsurprisingly, he accepted the responsibility. We then addressed our citizens, announcing Vesper as their temporary leader until our return. Although they agreed, worry and confusion clouded their faces. Many tried to dissuade us from leaving, including our young daughters. We reassured them, urging them to be strong in our absence. Our concern was evident, and we couldn't hide it. Solara shared our fears and wished to accompany us, but we asked her to stay and protect the kingdom. She accepted but asked that we keep an eye out for others like her during our journey, she really wished to know if other Fire Eagles, or Phoenixes, like her, existed.

So, we prepared for the mission, taking equipment left from the SunFlares even though we weren't strictly supposed to. It was just a shame not to make good use of them, we couldn’t just ignore those beautiful weapons.