Dawn of Cobalt Shadows (Burning Empire Book 2) by Emma Hamm (best e ink reader for manga .txt) 📕

Because something in her chest whispered there was more to this place. No one would have set up a camp like this without having a reason to. No one was as insane as she was, struggling through the mountaintop only to set up a fire in the middle of a forgotten cave.

Someone had to either still be here, or have found something so important they caved the whole place in. Right?

She hoped she was correct in her musings, or this was all for nothing.

Sigrid pushed herself up, lifting her chest from the ground and searching the darkness for something she could light.

“Dragon?” she asked the shadows. “Any chance you can see in the dark better than my human eyes?”

Although the creature was thoroughly exhausted and needed to warm up, it still woke for her. Sigrid felt the heat behind her eyes, the strange feeling whenever the dragon took over a part of her body. Her pupils shifted, splitting down the center, and the cave around her burst into grey shadows.

“There.” Just beyond her reach was another stick, this one wrapped with some kind of fabric.

Someone had been here before her. That meant there was something more to this place than just a cave. Why would someone have left a torch? An honest to gods’ torch.

Sigrid scrambled on hands and knees to the item and lit it on fire without having to ask the dragon. She could force the flames out of her own lungs if she was desperate enough, and in this moment, she was.

The orange light burst to life and cast the small cavern into a warm glow. The dragon inside her reached for the fire. Sigrid wanted warmth too, so she held the flames in the palm of her hand and let it burn through her flesh.

She wouldn’t have any blisters from the heat. As always, dragons could not burn.

Her eyes feasted on the wall in front of her.

“I knew it,” she gasped.

Paintings stretched from floor to ceiling, old and crumbling but still there. They depicted so many things her eyes couldn’t detect every single detail. Countless images of stories, each painstakingly left for someone like her to find.

Lifting the torch, she stepped forward and gently touched a single figure on the wall. It was a dragon, or something that looked like one. Golden as the sun, it didn’t look anything like her own dragon or that of Nadir’s. This creature was more than just a dragon.

It was a god.

Rays of sunlight burst out of it and showered down upon the green rolling hills. Beastkin were painted there as well. Some in human form, others as animals, some mid-shift and looking more like a monster than a person. But they were there.

Someone had come into this cavern and painted a story unlike anything she’d ever seen before. How could she have? This was made by her people so long ago they’d forgotten the story.

She traced the lines with her gaze, shocked to see that there was so much here. The ancients were real. They had to be. Who else would have painted this? She refused to believe for a second that it was some wandering Beastkin who had seen an opportunity to paint.

This had to mean something.

Sigrid stepped a few paces back then sank onto a larger boulder, staring up at the paintings. In some strange way, a story began to form in her mind from the paintings. She whispered the words to herself.

“The great dragon goddess created the world with her breath. A single exhale, and her fires scorched the earth, bringing about a new beginning. From the ashes rose a phoenix, a horse with mane of flame, and a swimming creature with a long neck that immediately made its way toward the sea.

“She ruled with her families. One made of water, who gifted the oceans with Beastkin whose powerful legs and gills let them breathe in their kingdoms. One for the air, who flew through the skies on feathered wings. One on the land, who made creatures that trampled the earth. And herself, a creature of fire and brimstone living deep in the mouth of a volcano with her people.

“Together, they ruled the lands until something else appeared.

“Man.

“The humans seemed good at first. They talked with the Beastkin, had a conference that…” This part had been scratched off the wall until she couldn’t tell what it had originally been. Strange, every other piece of the mural was intact but this one.

“After that, things changed. Some of the Beastkin wanted to help the humans. Others wanted to ignore that they existed. The Beastkin of the water wanted the destroy the threat, saying that humans would eventually take over the world with their greed, their arrogance, and their weapons that plunged through Beastkin hide.

“The sun goddess waited to hear everyone’s opinion before she said each tribe must make its own choices.”

Sigrid’s voice choked up as she saw the mural where the Beastkin descended from the mountain and made their way toward the human villages.

Unable to give voice to the painting, she stood once more and made her way to it. She traced her fingers over the cage bars where her people were imprisoned. She touched the chains around the neck of an elephant, the spears in the heart of a lion. So much war, and pain, and violence. All because they had given the humans a chance.

Even seeing this, she couldn’t give up on mankind. Not yet. They were prone to violence and war, yes. She’d seen what they could do to a kingdom when someone disagreed with them, but she wouldn’t allow history to cloud her vision.

They could be good if they were given the chance. If they were taught that Beastkin weren’t terrifying and if people took centuries of work to make sure everyone was on the same page. She had to believe this.

Otherwise, her entire life was a lie.

The skittering of rocks drew her attention. Sigrid narrowed her eyes and looked