ONE
THE MYSTICONS STOOD next to the Celestial Forge, a great ancient furnace in the Astromancer Academy. The bubbling metal at its core lit the room with a fiery glow, and the noise of its bellows sounded like an angry wind.
The Mysticons were four girls gifted with incredible, ancient powers. And right now, they were wondering if their latest plan was really going to work.
They stared up at the Dragon Disk they’d made just days before, after the real one had been stolen from them. It floated in the air, the same size and shape as the original artifact, but a dull gray color. They looked to it to tell them the prophecy they’d heard so much about. But would their duplicate Disk work?
Nova Terron, leader of the Astromancers, stood frowning in the corner. The decision to copy the Dragon Disk had been made without him, and he was clearly doubtful about it. Arkayna, leader of the Mysticons, didn’t want to think about how he’d act if their plan was a failure.
High above, the full moon shone through the skylight in the great, cavernous room. As the amber glow hit the Disk, it projected runes in midair. The Mysticons’ plan had succeeded! They stared at the message, transfixed.
When twin stars unite, the spectralbeast will take flight.
Its roars will herald a new dark age, and the realmwill be purged by the dragon’s rage.
Choko, the little foz who followed the Mysticons everywhere—even to places not always friendly to small furry animals—was so terrified he dove behind Piper, his tail shaking in fear.
“Spectral beast? A new dark age?” Em said, panic in her voice.
“You’re the expert,” Zarya said to Nova Terron. “What’s it all mean?” The Astromancers were an ancient order of mages dedicated to helping the Mysticons in their fight against evil, so Zarya figured if anyone could decode the message, it was the leader of the Astromancers.
Nova Terron felt very worried about what it meant. “Doom, Mysticon Ranger…” he told her. His deep voice sounded even deeper than normal as he repeated, “Doom.”
He could barely look at them. His face was tense with worry. “Gandobi, assemble the Astromancers,” he said into his phone.
“But, Star Master,” Gandobi, one of the Astromancers, said from the other end, “it’s Card Night—”
“It may be your last if you do not meet us at the Caves of the Fang immediately!” Nova shot back. Then he turned on his heel, heading deeper into the Academy.
Arkayna followed him out the door, determined to find out more, and the other Mysticons trailed behind her. She was the princess of Gemina and the daughter of Queen Goodfey. For as long as she could remember, her mother had taught her to defend the Dragon Disk, an ancient artifact that was kept in the castle treasury. Just weeks before, the Disk had started glowing again, and soon bestowed powers on a new group of Mysticons. Arkayna had been transformed into the fierce, fireball-shooting Mysticon Dragon Mage. Like the other Mysticons, when Arkayna was in her guise as the Dragon Mage, few knew her true identity as Princess Arkayna. Even the Astromancers knew her only as the Mysticon Dragon Mage.
Emerald “Em” Goldenbraid had been Arkayna’s griffin wrangler at the castle. Em had become the Mysticon Knight, with an energy shield and a powerful sword. They were joined by two street kids, a savvy human orphan named Zarya Moonwolf and a naïve elf named Piper Willowbrook. Zarya had been transformed into the Mysticon Ranger, with a bow and magic arrows, and Piper had become the Mysticon Striker, with hoops made of pure energy—perfect for tossing at bad guys.
Together the new Mysticons had unified all four pieces of the Codex—an ancient book of Mysticon magic—and found the Dragon Disk, but both had been stolen and used to summon a queen of evil, Necrafa. She was now using her minion Tazma to try to destroy the entire realm.
Key to that plan was stealing a hidden prophecy from the Astromancers, which Tazma and Necrafa had pulled off just a few days before. But now the Mysticons had the prophecy. They had all the same clues Necrafa did, and Arkayna was just beginning to realize what they meant.
“So we’re hunting a dragon?” Arkayna asked.
“Thousands of years ago, a spectral drake rose from the caves and wreaked havoc and destruction,” Nova Terron explained. “It nearly destroyed Gemina. If there is a new dragon about to rise—”
“That’s where we’ll find it,” Malvaron added. “The Caves of the Fang.”
“But the prophecy says the twin stars have to unite,” Arkayna said.
“Focus on the quest at hand, Dragon Mage,” Nova Terron snapped. “Necrafa and Tazma are no doubt trying to find the Spectral Dragon even as we speak.”
Arkayna fell back, stung. Why was Nova Terron being so short with her? Why wouldn’t he explain the rest of the prophecy? Since when was it a bad idea to decipher every line, or to think too much about a riddle’s meaning?
She lagged behind the rest of the group, repeating the prophecy in her head. There was definitely more to it than Nova Terron was telling her.…
Mysticons characters, designs, and elements © 2018 Nelvana Limited
