3 years. 3 whole years since Azymondias had been returned to the Storm Spire. 3 Years since Viren had marched into Xadia weaving dissent and causing destruction. Three whole years, and still Callum had those nightmares. He only used Dark Magic once, and it nearly killed him. He had used it to save his friends, and he vowed never to touch it again. But that was not the only thing that plagued his dreams.

He still couldn't shake the thoughts of Rayla tackling Viren off the top of the Spire to save Zym from the Dark Mage. He still could not shake the thought of, what if. What if I hadn't reached her in time, what if the spell hadn't worked, What IF, it just hadn't been enough. The nightmares didn't come as often as they used to, actually having them was rare. But they were still potent, shaking him from his sleep in a cold sweat.

Callum lay awake in his bed, Rayla sleeping soundly next to him. Just a nightmare, he told himself, everything is fine. He had grown taller in the years that had passed. Ezran had returned to Katolis to rule, Aunt Amaya and Queen Janai had secured the border between Xadia and the human Kingdoms, and Callum...Callum had stayed at the Storm Spire.

Callum stayed to be with Rayla, they loved each other and so they stuck together. Just about everyone Callum and Rayla knew, knew about their relationship. But at the time Callum had used the guise of wanting to learn more about magic and the Sky Arcanum as an excuse to stay.

Callum had spent most of his day learning with Ibis, who had decided to stick around and teach Callum about Sky magic. So Callum learned, he picked up everything quickly, becoming a fully-fledged Sky Mage in a little over a year. There had been talk of appointing Callum to be the first, and so far, the only member of the Dragonguard. But that was deemed to be too big of a change, sure the times were changing now that peace had been made, but putting a human on the Dragonguard was unheard of.

So in the end, Queen Zubeia had made Callum and Honorary member of the Dragonguard. In addition to that, he was also a pseudo ambassador between the Human kingdoms and Xadia. It was a great honor for him, despite all of the work that needed to be done. As the years went on, both Callum and Rayla worked tirelessly, rebuilding the Dragonguard, and hunting down Claudia.

Both Claudia and Viren had been made outlaws, in both the Human Kingdoms and Xadia. Viren was believed to be dead, but no one had been able to find his body. Claudia had disappeared, and that worried a lot of people, given that she was the daughter of the most powerful Dark Mage in existence to date. But after a year of searching without any luck, the hunt had been mostly called off. With the exception of Callum and Rayla checking out leads that popped up everyone in a while, but they were all dead ends.

Callum walked out of the bedroom that he and Rayla shared. They had kept their relationship a secret for the first 6 months or so, until everyone in both lands settled into the new dynamic. The only people that knew of their relationship had been their inner circles of friends. Callum laughed silently to himself, he still couldn't believe, even after three years, that he could call the Dragon Queen a friend.

Rayla had wanted Ethari to know about their relationship, so they had taken time to travel to the Silvergrove. That...had not gone well. Rayla, despite being a hero, had not been un-ghosted. It's fine, I expected this, she had told him, she tried to hide it but he could see the tears in her eyes as she explained, moonshadow elves are too proud for their own good, they wouldn't admit to making a mistake like ghosting me.

However, they had found Ethari in his workshop, and to their surprise, they both could see his face. He had greeted them warmly, and to their surprise, had only laughed when they told him about being together. He had figured it out when they first came to visit him, on their way to bringing the Dragon Prince home. When Rayla asked...well...demanded to know why she hadn't been un-ghosted.

Ethari just gave the same, We're too proud to admit a mistake, speech that Rayla gave, it wasn't really an answer but it was better than nothing. He told them that it had been decided by the elders that because Ethari was her caretaker for basically her entire life, he would be allowed to remove the spell. Surprisingly, the rest of the village had accepted this, albeit begrudgingly.

Both he and Rayla retuned to the Storm Spire with heavy hearts. But no matter how much Callum wanted to, nothing could change Rayla's status as a ghost. Not even Queen Zubeia held sway over the decision made by the elders on ghosts. It took time, but eventually, they had accepted the situation wasn't going to change.

Callum made his way to the top of the Spire, he found it to be the best place to think. Also to draw, his sketches still amazed Rayla, despite him insisting that they weren't good. Callum looked up at the night sky, it was a clear night, no clouds in sight and a slight breeze flowing through the air.

He had left his shirt behind, it was summertime and despite being thousands of feet up in the air, the inner chambers of the Storm Spire, specifically the bedrooms, still got really hot. Hot enough that most nights were spent with little clothing on. Both He and Rayla were comfortable enough with each other that they didn't mind the lack of clothing, it didn't lead to anything but that didn't matter to them.

Callum looked down at his torso and arms, his birthday had just passed, making him 17. He flew almost every day and trained with Rayla almost as much. He wasn't an assassin by any means, but he was more than capable of defending himself should the situation call for it. His body had become muscular and tanned, and he was able to fly from the Spire to the Breach in a day. He could make it to the Moon Nexus if he really tried. That is where he usually stopped on his way to visit Katolis and check in on Ezran.

Callum looked up at the stars and sighed, despite his nightmares, tonight was a good night. He looked up at the moon, it wasn't quite full just yet, it would be tomorrow though. He had forged his connection to the Moon Arcanum after he and Rayla traveled to the Silvergrove. He didn't even realize his connection had been made until he had unwittingly cast an illusion spell, having Rayla's parents appear happy and smiling before them.

Callum stood tall, he loved the Storm Spire, it had become his home. He admired the stars in the sky for a few moments longer, then he activated his mage wings and jumped. He savored the rush of the wind as he fell towards the ground, his speed increased by the wings. He fell for a few seconds before snapping his wings out to his sides sending him high into the night sky.

He loved the rush that flying gave, he almost cried out for joy. He didn't, for he didn't want to wake anybody else. Still, he wore a massive grin on his face that he couldn't suppress, no matter how hard he tried. He flew circles around the top of the Spire, doing flips, rolls, dives and other tricks that he picked up from watching Ibis and Zym fly. He smiled to the stars, the sky, and the moon as he let the wind wash the memory of his nightmares away.