(That's right! This is the final story of the LLA saga! I hope you guys enjoy this one! I'd like to give a special thanks to dragon482 and NewLegend for letting me use their characters! R&R! No flames please! Enjoy!)
Chapter One - Distress Call
The floor was cold under Luna's feet as she sat. Her ankle was shackled to the wall in means to prevent her from escaping her cell. Letting a long sigh, she hugged herself to keep herself warm but she still shivered under the cold.
They didn't see it coming. One moment they were at Terehawken's citadel, but then everything went black after a bunch of creatures ambushed them. She woke up with the others in their own individual cells. They were all captured and were at Terehawken's mercy. One by one, she saw her friends be dragged out of their cells and never seen again after that. First seeing her best friend Kayla being dragged away, then her beloved Zombie Snake, and then Blue Eyes. She was next, and she knew it.
'What could he be doing to them?' Luna thought, 'Am I going to meet the same fate?'
Suddenly, her cells doors open and a guard goes in and drags her out forcefully by her arm.
"Come on, don't keep our master waiting..." Luna glares at him as she is guided to Terehawken's chambers.
The guard forces her down onto a chair in the middle of the room and binds her wrists to it. Luna stuggled but her efforts were useless against the strong material. She hears a faint chuckle and turns to the large figure who towered over on in his throne. 'Terehawken...' she thought quietly in her head. The dragon stood up and began to walk slowly toward her, the room shaking with each step from his colossal size. Luna finds herself looking up to the face of their enemy and captor. Anger filled her eyes as she glared, but he glares back to mock her.
"Well, well, well.....seems you're the only one left...." His deep tone of voice made her shudder in fear.
"What have you done to my friends!?" Luna demanded.
Terehwken grinned, showing his long rows of sharp teeth. "Don't worry, you'll know know soon enough." He rests a claw on her forehead. Luna looked at him in fear.
"Wha-wha...what are you doing?" she stammered. Suddenly, she felt her mind was being assaulted by a foreign force. She screamed in pain and fought back the force that tried to dominate her mind. It was a battle of will, and Luna wasn't going to give into the dragon's hands without a fight. Terehawken had a look of frustration at her resistance. He added more strength to his power to take over her mind. Another loud scream echoed the halls as Luna felt another pain going through her head. Tears start stinging her eyes as she kept resisting with all her might. Terehawken huffed and pulls back his claw, leaving the girl with a massive headache.
"Your mind is strong, you've managed to repel my power," he smirked, "Well done. Although I wouldn't say so for your friends."
Luna raised her head, "You bastard..."
"They're all under my control, and you WILL join them."
"Never!"
Terehawken smirked wider. "We'll see about that. I will find a way to make you join in my conquest to destroy this planet."
The guard came back and unbinded her from the chair, she didn't give much of a fight since she was exhausted from keeping her mind safe. Terehawken watched as she was dragged back into the dungeons and turned his gaze to the three figures that stood by his throne, each having a blank and cold stare.
The guard practically threw her back into the cell and locked the doors. Luna's back slammed against the wall and slumped to the floor, tears streaming down her cheeks.
'I have to get help...I just have to before....'Luna stopped the thought midsentence. 'And I think I know who to call...'
---
Tatum leaned back into a tree as she gazed upon the landscape of the Dragon Worlds before her. A small smile played about her lips as she could see Sydney in conversation with other dragons. Cainnan was nearby sketching the plantlife around him. He had been doing so the past few weeks and sending his sketches to his father in the desert. His father, being a gifted Apothecary, could tell him whether or not the plant could be used for medicinal purposes.
The other former elements were no longer living in the Dragon Worlds. Sky was now leader of his flock in the canyons and was doing surprisingly well last Tatum had heard of him. It appeared he was only serious and paid attention to things better when he wanted to, which only seemed to be when he was busy being leader. Firenha was leading her own tribe of volcans made up of exiled and outcasted volcans who were close to death and had nowhere to turn. She seemed to be doing well also, but Tatum had noticed that the other volcans were taking extra care of Firenha and doting on her every whim, which wasn't very typical of volcans unless...
Well, Tatum was sure that if Firenha was with-child, she would've said something to her. It must of obviously been because she rescued them from certain death. Emma was doing alright too. She was currently watching over her young nephew, Edward, who was destined to take his father's place as the leader of his herd. Although her condition remained quite weak, she still kept strong for Edward until he'd be old enough to take his father's place.
Yes, everything seemed quite stable and pleasant on this world. That was, until Tatum sensed something was wrong. She could sense a distress call coming from someone familiar, but who-
Luna? Is that you? She asked.
A faint voice responds weakly in her head.
'Yes...Tatum, listen to me..I don't have much time until I lose what's left of my energy. We've been captured back at Reptilia...the others....something terrible has happened to them and I'm afraid I'm going to be next. You and others have to come to Terehawken's citadel, we need all the help we can get...'
Tatum took a moment to register everything that had been said before replying.
Don't worry. We're going to help you. I just need to know where Reptilia and Terehawken's Citadel are.
'Only a several hundred miles from where you are, Terehawken's citadel is in the Eastern Regions of the planet.'
Very well. We'll get there as fast as we can! Just hold on!
'Please...hurry...' Her call disconnected. Tatum moved away from the tree, explaining to Cainnan that there was something urgent that she had to do. She raised her staff and disappeared in a flash of white light. Some minutes later, she returned, holding a small canvas sack filled with heavy objects. She called Sydney over to where she and Cainnan were.
"What's up Tatum?" Sydney asked once she had arrived. Tatum sat down, placing the sack in front of her, looking quite serious.
"I have just received a distress call from Luna at Reptilia. Apparently, she and the others are in terrible danger and need our help. They don't have much time, so I went to the Hall of the Elders to ask for their assistance. They responded by giving me these..." Tatum replied, taking out one of the items in the sack. It was a golden arm cuff with a deep amber stone embedded in it. Some strange markings, similar to the old element markings, were etched around the stone.
"What are they?" Sydney asked, staring at the cuff. It felt as if it eminated power.
"The Elders will allow you temporary use of your old powers as elements through these accessories. They each hold the power of the elements as you once did." Tatum replied, handing the first one to Cainnan. He held it and looked it over as if seeing if it had some horrible trap inside of it. She then took out the next one, a small golden choker built to fit a dragon with a deep blue stone embedded in it.
She carefully placed it around Sydney's neck, who looked apprehensive at first, but then relaxed after she felt the familiar sensation of energy flowing like the very blood in her body throughout her being. Cainnan did the same, attaching the cuff to his arm, feeling the energy crawl throughout his body. Tatum then closed the sack and stood up.
"We need to gather the others. We're going to need all the help we can get." She stated. Sydney nodded as Cainnan stood with Tatum.
"We should get Sky first. I'll bet he'll be thrilled to get his wind abilities back!" She exclaimed. Tatum smiled a bit before raising her staff and teleporting them to the canyons. When they arrived, Tatum made a beeline straight for the center of the canyons. There, they saw a circle of boulders surrounding a dead tree. Sky was perched on the tree, talking to an older eagle.
Then the older eagle flew off and Sky turned to see Tatum and the other two standing there. He smiled and flew down to greet them.
"Hey guys! What are you doing here?" He asked. Tatum set the sack down in front of her and explained the situation to him. Sky became serious at this news.
"What can we do? We don't have our powers anymore." He stated, looking a bit glum at that. Tatum then opened the sack and pulled out something that looked like a thin, golden crown with a silver stone embedded in the front.
"This will grant you your wind abilities for a time." She explained and Sky grinned.
"Sweet!" He exclaimed as Tatum placed the crown overtop and around his helmet. Once done, Sky felt the energy move through his body like the air through his lungs.
"So when do we leave?" He asked as Tatum closed the sack and lifted it.
"When we get Firenha, then we'll depart for Reptilia." Tatum replied. Sky smirked at that.
"This outta be interesting." He remarked as Tatum lifted her staff and teleported them to Firenha's volcano.
---
Luna layed on the mat, concerned for the well-being of her friends. She prayed,
'Please....hurry...'
---
When they arrived at the volcano, Tatum held up a hand to them to stop them from moving forward.
"Volcans prefer the least amount of visitors as possible. I won't be long." She explained. With that, she turned and entered the volcano. Sky raised an eyebrow at this.
"I thought Firenha was trying to change the way things usually were with volcans?" He mused.
"It's not that simple. Firenha's already breaking several taboos with taking in exiled volcans and making them members of her tribe. Customs like volcan customs take a lot of time to change. She needs the favor of her tribe members in order to move forward with a change." Sydney explained. Sky nodded in acknowledgement and a few minutes later, Firenha emerged from the volcano's entrance with Tatum by her side. Firenha appeared to be carrying some extra weight and she wore a golden necklace with a fiery red stone embedded in an amulet.
Sydney seemed to notice this, but Sky appeared oblivious to it and grinned.
"Hey, Firenha. It's kind of funny seeing you wear more stuff than just your flame bikini and being less exposed than usual." He remarked. Firenha rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
"Aren't leaders suppose to be, I don't know, mature? or do eagles not care whether childishness can kill them?" She retorted. Sky just smirked at that.
"I'm mature when I wanna be, Firry." He replied, calling her by an old nickname he use to use when they were younger. Firenha's flames rose and gained temp as she scowled at him.
"I told you never to call me that featherbrain!" She growled. Tatum cut them off before they could get further.
"Enough you two! We have more pressing matters at hand." She ordered and Firenha just glared at Sky who looked a bit smug. Firenha then looked up at Tatum.
"So where to now?" She asked.
"We leave for Reptilia." Tatum replied.
"But what about Emma? Isn't she coming too?" Sydney asked. Tatum shook her head.
"Emma's life-span was shortened when she gave Luna the tip of her horn. She is too weak to fight anymore." She replied, raising her staff. The others looked a bit saddened at the news, but couldn't dwell on it as they were then teleported to Reptilia in a flash of white light.
---
They appeared in the Eastern Regions of Reptilia in a valley that extended for many miles. They looked around at the view. It was definitely much different than the Dragon Worlds. Tatum glanced at them, her usual serious "business" face on.
"According to Luna, Terehawken's Citadel is located somewhere in this region," She explained, "Keep close and try not to get lost."
They all nodded as she slammed her staff into the ground, sending a beam of light into the sky that formed into a ball, which then formed an arrow, pointing in the direction they needed to go. Tatum then picked up a small stone and called the arrow down to merge with the stone. The result acted as a compass, leading them to Terehawken's Citadel. She then moved forward in the direction the compass pointed in, doing their best not to draw any attention to themselves.
After walking for a few miles, a figure starts to emerge from the horizon, walking toward them.
A figure that resembles much like Kayla. Tatum noticed the figure and stopped, trying to see who this figure was. Sydney squinted her vision and Sky concentrated his focus on this stranger. Firenha and Cainnan did their best to try to make out whoever it was as well as the figure drew closer to them. Kayla walked toward them with a blank stare.
Sydney grinned at the sight of her friend, but as she went to greet her, Tatum stopped her with her staff and shook her head.
"Kayla is not herself," She explained, "I can't reach her. Terehawken did his work well."
Sky seemed a bit apprehensive. "Are you saying that Terehawken is controlling them all?"
Tatum winced a bit as she tried to get through the barriers that Terehawken set up in Kayla's mind so nothing could disrupt the mind control spell. "It's very possible." She replied, unable to get past the barriers.
Sydney looked back at Kayla, who continued to approach them. "So what do we do? We can't just fight our friends!" She cried.
"We may have to, unless we can find some way to get past the barriers on Kayla's mind." Tatum stated.
Kayla growled at her targets, lunging at them and kicking Sydney of out the way to slash at Tatum. Tatum lept out of the way and quickly transformed her staff into a sword. She took off her robe and called out to the others as they spread out, "Use evasive and defensive manuevers only! We must get through to her!"
Luna! Can you still hear me? Tatum called to Luna.
'Y-yes Tatum?...'
Kayla blew her ice shards at Firenha and charged at Sky. Her blue eyes were pale and held no emotion as she attacked them. Cainnan used his earth abilities to create a protective wall in the path of the ice shards to let Firenha dive successfully out of the way with no injury. Sky took to the skies to dodge Kayla's attack.
Terehawken has Kayla attacking us! We won't harm her, but we must get past the barriers on her mind! We need a way to get through to her before she kills us all!
'You have to weaken her somehow, bring to the point of exhaution so Terehawken's hold on her weakens in her state. Try an element that opposes her elements...'
Kayla took off after Sky and tackled him, driving her horns into his belly. Sky 'oofed' and fell to the ground, quickly rolling back to his talons before Kayla could hit him with another attack. Tatum thought this over as she watched Kayla's movements. Kayla's element was ice, which was the same as water only colder. Thunder was water's opposing element.
Kayla also had light in her, but none here had darkness to oppose the light, so thunder was their best choice. Tatum powered up a thunder spell and struck Kayla with a lightning strike from her sword. The pink dragoness spotted the lightning and instantly grabbed hold of Sydney by the neck and threw her in front of the attack so she'd take the hit. Kayla let out a snicker as she watched her hit the ground. Sydney cried out in pain and went down, not getting back up.
Sky flew down to check on Sydney and glared at Kayla. Tatum strategized a bit. She had the power of light and so could move at such speeds, but so could lightning. They would need some major distractions in order to bring down Kayla and they would have to risk hurting her. Tatum placed a shield spell on Sydney and looked around at the others.
"Everyone! Weather Formation!" She called, placing a protection spell on herself and the others except Kayla. Sky nodded and took to the skies. Firenha nodded and hovered to the right. Cainnan nodded and lept to the left. Thunder rumbled across the sky and the clouds darkened to black.
Firenha powered up and the temperature started to rise. Cainnan placed his hand on the ground, the earth slowly forming around his hand. Sky powered up and the clouds began to swirl, eardrums were popping as the air pressure dropped dramatically. The wind picked up as a massive tornado dropped down around them, uprooting trees and lifting large boulders as if they were cotton balls. Debri was raining all around them, but luckily Tatum's protection spells kept them safe.
Cainnan lifted his hand off the ground, revealing a stone hand, which he smashed back into the ground and caused a massive earthquake. It was at least a 10-pointer. By now Firenha's heat wave would cause one to be sweating profusely and getting fatigued from the body's attempts to keep cool, even a reptile would be having trouble enjoying it at this point. The debris inside the tornado was now bursting into flame from the intense heat and fire was raining down on them. Tatum powered up again to ready the Thunder spell once more.
Kayla stared at the attack nervously, but held her ground. Tatum shot the spell at Kayla again. She covered herself with her wings and took the attack. A large explosion erupted and the field was enveloped with a bright light. Tatum shielded her eyes for a moment, as did the others, but the storms didn't cease.
When the light dimmed, Kayla lay motionless on the ground, covered with dirt and burns from the storm. Tatum signaled to the others to stop the storms and they ceased as quickly as they appeared, the surrounding area becoming still, quiet and cool again. Tatum kept the protection and shield spells active, just in case, as she carefully walked up to Kayla. She knelt down and inspected her mind. The barriers were still there, but they weren't as strong as before.
Tatum placed her hand on Kayla's head, trying to get past the barrier's again. It was difficult and her brow furrowed in concentration. The others kept themselves ready in case she started attacking again. Tatum pushed as hard as she could and soon the barrier's cracked and she could feel another force pushing towards her. It didn't feel like the same force that held the barrier's, but something rather familiar.
Could it be Kayla fighting back for control? It was highly possible with the barrier's now weakening. Tatum kept pushing and she felt the other force pushing just as hard. Soon the barrier shattered from the stress of both forces trying to break through and Tatum withdrew from Kayla's mind, hoping this battle was over for now. She opened her eyes and looked down at Kayla.
"Kayla? Can you hear me?" She asked.
Kayla stirred and looked up with a familiar look in her deep blue eyes. "T-Tatum? Wha-what...happened?" She fell unconscience after speaking and fell limp. Tatum smiled a little and stood, looking around at the others.
"Is anyone else hurt?" She asked. The others shook their heads as she made her way over to Sydney. She undid the shield spell and knelt down to heal her. She slowly woke up and looked up at Tatum.
"Ugh... I hate lightning..." She grumbled, "Is Kayla okay? Did we save her?"
Tatum nodded. "She'll be fine. She needs rest as do you."
Sydney smiled and nodded, falling asleep right there. Tatum smirked and went back over to Kayla. Sky swooped down and landed next to her.
"So, what do we do now?" He asked. Tatum healed Kayla's wounds, but she still remained unconscious.
"For now, we set up camp and rest here. We'll need Kayla's help if we're going to find Terehawken's Citadel and rescue the others," She replied, standing up. She gently lifted Kayla and carried her over to Sydney as Cainnan started picking through the scattered debris for any usable wood for a fire. Tatum set Kayla down next to Sydney as Cainnan set a pile of wood down in the center of what was their battlefield. The area around them was now in ruins from the storms and it was once beautiful.
Firenha blew fire onto the wood and hovered over the flames. Tatum sat down next to Kayla and Sydney, Cainnan sitting down next to her. Sky perched himself on a nearby fallen tree and covered his face with his wing to fall asleep. Firenha curled into the flames and fell asleep while Tatum remained awake to watch over the others as night fell around them. Cainnan was asleep next her, sprawled out on the ground as she looked up at the stars with a doleful expression.
"I pray our sin won't come back to destroy us just as we have destroyed this place..."