After the Black Wings

"I'm soooo bored!!!!!!" whined Dark

"Quit your bellyaching! It's not like we have anything to do now that we're one again!" retorted Krad irritably.

"I know that! It's just that the rest of time is going to be boring! Can't you think of ANYTHING to do?!"

"It's called puzzles; they can take forever to finish, but it's better than nothing."

"Works for me. Mind if I join you?"

"I wouldn't have mentioned it if I did! We can either put puzzles together or ask riddles; your choice."

"Puzzle or riddle; why not?"

Krad and Dark may not have gotten along before, but when they're faced with a mutual problem…even they can get along! It took them years to notice the light shining from the outside world.

"What the…?! Hey Krad, do you see…?"

"Where's the light coming from?!"

"I don't know…but I intend to find out!" said Dark as he (floated?!) towards it.

"Um…I think you'll want to see this; otherwise you won't believe it!"

"What?"

"Take a look. We're not in the ruins of the museum anymore. You gotta see this!"

"What are you… what the hell?! Where are we?!" exclaimed Krad.

Outside the mirror, there were literally mountains of treasure! It wasn't until they heard the loud throaty purring that they took another look. What they saw next was beyond belief…it was a DRAGON.

"No way! I thought they were supposed to be legendary monsters!" said Dark in surprise. His voice seemed to have an effect on the creature. One moment it was sleeping, the next they were staring at eye-to-eye!

XxXxX

DRAGON'S POV…

It could hear voices coming from inside its lair. All it could think was… 'Oh, joy…more of those damn adventures after my treasure!'

It opened a lazy eye to survey the lair…nothing seemed out of place; even the strange mirror it had acquired a few months before was there. It tested the air around it; then looked around as it got up. That's when it finally noticed that the mirror was acting strangely! It was puzzled as it realized that was where the voices were coming from! It walked over to the mirror and was somewhat caught off guard as it found itself looking at two (humans?) inside the mirror itself. The surprise was mutual as they looked at it in shock.

"Interesting… I didn't know that the mirror captured foolish adventurers…" chuckled the dragon.

"Um…we're not adventurers. We came with the mirror. Where are we anyway?" asked the dark-haired boy.

"If you came with the mirror, then why have you not shown yourself before now? And as for where you are… in my lair!"

"If you want to know why we didn't show ourselves before, it's because it took us a while to notice a change of scenery," said the blond dryly.

"Who are you two? You better give me an answer…"

"A good answer later is better than a hasty one made in fear," retorted the blond.

"What…? That's the first time a human has used that one before…" said the dragon in amusement.

"Why should we answer right now anyway? It's not like we have anything better to do than talk to a dragon…" said the dark-haired boy in boredom.

"Give me your names then."

"Technically we're both called the Black Wings. Before it was finally sealed though, we were known as Dark and Krad," said the blond.

"Black Wings? I thought that was the mirror's name!"

"We said we came with it, didn't we? We're the soul of the mirror…or both of the halves anyway."

"You are starting to confuse me. I don't enjoy being confused…" said the dragon irritably with a growl.

"It looks like you have company…" said the dark-haired boy.

"Just tell me which is which and then I'll get back to you."

"I'm Dark and he's Krad. By the way, I think one of those guys is chanting something…" said Dark.

"Not for long he isn't!" roared the dragon before it used its deadly breath.

"Nice touch," said Krad.

Unfortunately the would-be adventurers survived; because the dragon used its breath attack, it was unable to use it again for a few moments. The one who chanted before tried again while the dragon recovered. Right as the spellcaster was about to throw his deadly blast, Krad and Dark figured they might as well help the beast.

Krad had enough magic to release his tirade of feathers; each could kill humans the moment they made contact! His appearance had an interesting effect. Not only did it kill several of the humans; it also gave the dragon time to use its breath again to finish them off. Those who survived retreated in fear. The dragon turned to the mirror and said, "How did you pull that off? I've never seen anything like it!"

"You're kidding. How old are you anyway? And when did you get this mirror?" asked Dark.

"The mirror has been here for nearly a hundred years. And I'm nearly 600 years…I think."

"You don't keep track, do you? Well if we were stuck in here for over a hundred years or so, that would make us…" started Dark.

"Roughly around the same age as you, I would think," finished Krad.

"You're bluffing."

"Nope… we were over 400 years when this was finally sealed; if a hundred has passed since then, we're almost your equal in age," said Krad.

"Impossible. No human can live over a 100!"

"We're not human! We're part of the Black Wings, which would mean we can't die from old age!" said Dark irritably.

"If what you say is true, then I suspect we'll have a good many years of things to discuss. But right now, I need to make sure those nuisances called humans are long since gone."

"We'll wait here then. It's not like we can ever leave the mirror…" said Krad.

The dragon left them alone for nearly six hours. Its survey of the surrounding landscape usually took a full day!

Dark and Krad's POV (while the dragon surveyed its territory)…

"Well, what's your verdict? Do you think what it said was true?" said Dark.

"Probably… it would explain a lot."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if what he said was true, then it took at least a hundred years for the mirror to be uncovered from that mound of dirt that encased us! But what I can't figure out is why a dragon even exists!"

"Yeah, really. Here I thought they were nothing but mythical monsters," said Dark.

"He didn't seem like a monster to me."

"Yeah…he actually seems like someone who'd be interesting to talk to!"

XxXxX

"So you thought I was a monster, eh?"

"ACK! How long have you…?"

"For the past five minutes. Were you speaking the truth about thinking I was a monster?"

"When we were free, your kind was nothing more than a myth! We had no idea that dragons actually existed," said Krad.

"And what do you think of us now?"

"I'd say that our boredom might finally come to an end! If we had noticed sooner, we would have come to chat a long time ago," said Dark.

"I am surprised that you haven't asked me my name yet."

"We thought we'd wait until you decided to give it to us," lied Krad.

"No we didn't. It just never occurred to us," retorted Dark.

"So it never occurred to either of you to ask? I would have been more than happy to tell you."

"Well…there is one thing I wanted to ask," said Krad cautiously.

"Go for it."

"What kind of dragon are you? And how many kinds are there?"

"I am a Brass Dragon of course! And as to how many varieties…we lost count a few millennia ago."

"A Brass Dragon?"

"You really don't know much about our kind, do you? Everyone knows that the most talkative of the draconic race is the Brass Dragons!"

"You're the first dragon we've ever met."

"How talkative are you…?" asked Krad, hoping the answer wouldn't make them regret showing themselves!

"Most beings would rather avoid us if possible."

"That bad huh?"

"At least now I have someone to talk to when I'm bored…"

"Likewise."

Over the next two hundred years, Dark and Krad actually enjoyed being around the dragon. They even picked up on their language; the dragon was happy to finally have someone who'd actually stick around to hear what it had to say! Their favorite pastime was giving riddles to one another. They spent most of their days doing just that for hours on end. If you didn't count the annoying adventurers who constantly sought the dragon's vast treasure!

During the years they spent with the Brass Dragon, they slowly started to change their original forms. At first, the changes were slight and not one of them noticed. Then Dark started to realize that he could see far better than he used to; his breathing had changed too! He turned to look at his opposite half; he had begun to change as well.

"Krad…is it me or are we turning into dragons ourselves?!" said Dark. Their dragon friend was out on his usual survey of his territory and wouldn't be back for another 20 hours.

"What're you blathering about now?" growled Krad irritated.

"I'm serious! Haven't you noticed the change in our sight and hearing?"

"Not really. I quit paying attention a long time ago."

"Well I haven't! I think we're turning into dragons too! Or have you quit paying attention to your wings as well?"

"I still pay attention to them…just not as much."

"How long has it been since you took a good look at them. I mean really take a good long look?!"

"About five years or so. I don't keep track anymore."

"Then look at them now and tell me if anything seems off about them," said Dark.

"Will you leave me alone for the rest of the day if I do?!"

"Probably."

"Then fine!" said Krad annoyed. He took a good long look at his white wings. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then he realized that the feathers had begun to change shape…almost as if they were turning into scales!

-------

"I don't see anything too odd."

"You know I can tell when you're lying! You finally see the change too! Our feathers are turning into scales!"

"So what's your point?! It's probably because we haven't flown in the open air in a while!"

"Or we're changing into dragons. Think about it…why would our wings start to change now? They've never done this before!"

"So what?"

"So, I think we're being affected by our friend's natural magic. This might actually get us out of the mirror!"

"Since I did what you asked, you should hold up your end of the bargain and shut up for once. Don't bug me until he gets back, got it?!"

"But…!"

"LEAVE ME BE!!!!!"

Dark did as he asked and didn't bother him for the rest of the day. He spent the time in silence, thinking of what this could mean. If they were indeed being affected by the Brass dragon's magic, then there might be a chance to finally be free of the Black Wings! But what could they do once they were free? Their friend didn't like other dragons in his territory…he probably wouldn't recognize them!

He couldn't stop thinking of what to do. Their friend had returned hours ago; but wasn't in the mood to chat…for once. As he thought things over, he came to a single conclusion. If they were freed…they'd have to find somewhere to hide the mirror. It was all too likely that if the mirror were destroyed, then so were they!

Dark didn't know what to do. If things were as he feared, then they were doomed! He sighed and then thought of his days as the infamous Phantom Thief. As his eyes started to glaze over, he noticed something strange. It was a light…it almost appeared to lead to the outside world, yet he didn't recognize the surroundings at all! He went towards it; that was when he realized something else.

He was staring into the past!