Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DANNY PHANTOM OR ANY CHARACTERS ASSOCIATED WITH HIS SHOW! I do own Draconum however, so don't use him without asking.

-- A/N --

Alright after getting a few emails, reading a few reviews, and having a few of my friends bugging me nonstop I have decided to write the next part of The Overlord of Shadows. Now enjoy the next part of my story Beyond the Shadows.

Prelude: Here We Go Again

-- unknown skies --

Draconum soared high in the clear starry sky. He hadn't felt this free in eons. It had been so long sense he had taken the Curse of the Shadow King upon himself and he had spent nearly twenty centuries trying to find a way to break the curse without passing it to another, all while trying to keep the curse satisfied that he was trying to destroy creation. The answer had been so simple yet so complicated it was nearly laughable. Soul binding. It couldn't be completely intentional of course, he literally had to trick himself into it or the curse would have simply tried to flee to another body. He also needed to find a soul untainted by evil. A soul who was willing to risk everything just to save something precious to them. A hero in other words. He had found the perfect hero in Danny Phantom.

He could feel the boy in his mind. A surprisingly reassuring feelingly, being able to reach out to him. Draconum felt Ember kiss Danny and he couldn't help but grin. They did that a lot. It was for Ember that Danny risked death and jumped in front of a soul destroying blast. The same blast that had backfired and bound their souls together. Danny's pure soul binding with his curse tainted one had acted much like a filter. The curse could not withstand even the small part of Danny that was bound with his soul and upon meeting, Danny's soul had obliterated the curse. Danny had freed him from the living nightmare that had been his life for hundred of thousands of years.

A side effect was also a restored part of his own humanity and a little of the boys personality rubbed off on him. He hadn't felt many human emotions other then slight dark amusement and all consuming rage for a very long time. It felt good to be able to care about something again, even if it was just a snot nosed human brat. He grinned at the thought of his 'little brother'. Honestly it was the only thing that came close to describing soul bound creatures. They were bound in much the same way twins were, just a little more extreme.

'Maybe it's time I payed them a visit.' Draconum thought to himself. 'It has been over a year now and I wouldn't mind seeing those two again.'

Draconum nodded to himself. He cart wheeled gracefully in the air and sped off in Danny's general direction. He wasn't going to tell the hatchling he was coming, it would be amusing to see the look on Danny's face when he got there. Draconum increased his speed with several powerful down strokes. Trees below him bent in the gale force winds his wings kicked up and a small explosion echoed away from him as he broke the sound barrier.

'Look out Amity Park.' Draconum gave a fanged smile. 'Draconum's coming home.'

-- Fenton Works --

"Alright I give up!" Danny sighed.

Ember grinned at him. "Told you I still play better then you do, dip-stick."

"Oh well. I wasn't really expecting to beat you anyways." He set his guitar down. Well, he set Draconum's guitar down. It was nearly an exact replica of Ember's just it was black with neon green flames instead of Ember's purple and aqua color. It had been the one Draconum used during there contest and it really was a masterful piece of work. It never seemed to go out of tune, it seemed to be able to take any kind of punishment, and to top it off it sounded perfect. Even Skulker had said it was a beautiful instrument.

Draconum had told him were it was right after he left. He said it was a gift for saving him. Even though it never seemed to actually matter Danny always cared for the guitar carefully. He cleaned and tuned it every day despite Ember always pointing out that it never really needed it. He was actually getting to be a pretty good guitarist now too with a lot of help from Ember and some random tips from Draconum through their mental link. It was going to be a very long time before he could out play Ember though, she still mopped the floor with him every single time. One time Ember had suggested he might be able to beat Draconum now and he had pointed out that she couldn't beat Draconum. She didn't have a response for that.

He felt Draconum suddenly shift directions in his mind, but it had been so fast he couldn't tell what direction he was moving in now. Danny shook his head and shrugged it off. Draconum had told him how to more or less shield himself from the mental link, but he usually just left it open anyways. Not like he had anything to hide.

"Danny?" Ember asked touching his shoulder. She knew when he got like that it normally meant something dealing with Draconum, but she could never be sure what until she asked.

"It's nothing, he just changed directions really fast and it confused me for a second." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Oh..." She frowned, "Do you have any idea were he is at?"

Danny sighed they have had this conversation before. "I told you already, Ember, it doesn't work like that. I can sense that he is in that direction," He pointed toward Draconum's general position, "but I don't know were in that direction. I just know that if we went that way long enough we would find him."

She frowned. "But..."

Danny held up his hand and let a small part of Draconum's personality surface. "No buts child. That is simply how it is and how it will always be."

He grinned at Ember's scowl and started laughing when she tackled him back on to the bed. She hated it when he talked like the ancient creature.

Ember was leaning in to kiss him now. He stopped laughing and grinned up at her. Their lips were just about to touch when a breath of mist escaped his lips. He couldn't help but curse as he slowly pulled a frowning Ember off of him and stood up.

"Well back to work it seems. I'M GOING GHOST!" White rings surrounded his body as he changed into Danny Phantom.

"Oh well." Ember said. "Lets finish this quick shall we, baby pop."

"That works for me." Danny said as they both phased out and took off through the wall.

The door to the room burst open and a panicked Jazz rushed in. "Guys there is a ghost and..." she glanced around, "oh I see they already knew."

Downstairs an image of Vlad Plasmius was on the TV. He was standing in the middle of a street blasting anything stupid enough to get to close to him. It looked like he was waiting for someone...