Chapter 2. Up in Flames
The wind had fallen to a mere gust now, and the giant clouds and driving snow had all but vanished over the horizon revealing the countless stars above, and the brightening of the sky to the west as the sun rose. Flame and Conflagris stepped out onto the mountain ledge and took to the skies. They soared blissfully over the frozen plains of ice and snow below, revelling in the rare opportunity to stretch their wings and feel the wind beneath them rush past. They swooped and dived playfully, content to enjoy the moment.
They did not speak as they flew; overjoyed with the feeling of the air beneath their wings, and the knowledge that Milona was back on the road to recovery. But slowly, as they neared their destination, the cheerfulness faded, to be replaced by a nervous tension from the knowledge they were putting their lives in danger on this mission.
It was past noon when Dante's Freezer, one of the most dangerous places in the arctic, a frozen battleground sheeted with ice, came into view over the horizon. Ancient war machines stood unmanned in the desolate plains. The figures of armored warriors and soldiers lay half buried beneath the snow, along with the massive fortress that had once stood here. Flame surveyed the dreadful land before them, grateful he would not have to venture too far into it.
Conflagris took them to the ground at an easy glide, and landed in the soft, powdery snow that carpeted the land.
"Now, if I remember right, the garden should be in a cave somewhere nearby..." The adult dragon murmured softly to himself, looking around the clearing. He then moved off to the right, deeper into the icy battleground. Flame followed him uncertainly, glancing around at the devastation as he went.
They passed by the figure of a frozen solider as they moved off into the battlefield, the armored creature buried up to its neck in snow and ice, with only its horned helmet was visible. As they moved deeper in, more and more armored figures could be seen. Each frozen in place in countless different positions. Some seemed to crawl across the battleground, arrows sticking out from their bodies. Others appeared to be locked in mortal combat, weapons raised to strike.
A sudden movement out of the corner of Flame's eye made him whirl around, heart hammering as he prepared for an attack. He blinked in surprise, there was nothing there; he could have sworn he had seen one of the warriors move. The young dragon shook his head. These creatures had been frozen here for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, there was no way they could be alive.
"Must have been the snow." Flame thought, turning away from the eerie statue. "The snow made it look like it moved. That has to be it."
"FLAME!" Conflagris shouted, startling the young dragon and making him leap several feet into the air. "I found the cave, hurry up!"
Flame rushed over to his father, and stopped beside him. Before them, a large cave gaped; the icicles that hung from the ceiling gave it the appearance of a great, hungry maw ready to swallow any intruders. Flame gulped.
"Let's go." Conflagris grunted, setting off into the cave. Flame followed behind a moment later.
At first it was nearly too dark to see, with only the light of the entrance outside guiding them safely down the path. But as they ventured further into the cave, a soft glow started to emanate from further within. Upon seeing the light, the two raced forward towards it.
They came to a stop as they entered the next room, and Flame gasped with awe at the sight before him. The cavern was encrusted with crystals, everywhere, from walls, the floor, even the ceiling, massive clusters of crystals grew.
Red, green, even some blue grew in patches all over the cave. It reminded Flame of a geode he had once seen in Svelb's hut.
"Flame, you go over to the left for that patch of crystals, I'll go over there." Conflagris gestured over to a small grove of crystals over on Flame's right. "Get some magic and spirit gems while you're over there, they may come in handy some other time."
The young red dragon nodded in agreement and padded over to the grove of jewels. Along the way he struck a few clusters of crystals, and they broke like glass beneath his paw. The shards fell to the floor with chiming clinks and Flame gathered them up in the sack he carried.
It took close to half an hour to fill all three sacks, and by the end, nearly a fifth of the cave was stripped of glowing crystals. Flame hefted his bag and tied a strong in the drawstrings to keep it tightly shut on the journey home. He then hauled it onto his back and strapped it into place. Flame grunted at the motion, it was heavy, really really heavy.
Conflagris repeated his son's motion a moment later with his two sacks, both bulging with their valuable contents. Conflagris sighed.
"This should be more than enough, Flame. Let's go."
"Alright, dad." Flame grunted, adjusting the sack into a more comfortable position.
A sudden quake staggered the two dragons. They stumbled and bumped into the walls of the cave as they tried to keep their footing. The quake subsided, and then a moment later, another quake rocked the ground.
"What the...!" Conflagris cried, trying to get his paws back steadily underneath him. The quakes continued at a steady rhythm, almost like a slow drumbeat. Flame counted the seconds between each quake... Five... Ten... Twenty, and then a quake.
"Let's get out of this cave." Conflagris shouted, panic rising as he realized they weren't safe in the cavern. They rushed out of the crystal garden and back out into the light. The quakes grew stronger as they progressed, as if their cause was slowly approaching them.
"What's going on?" Flame's father cursed as he nearly tripped from the shuddering earth. He heard Flame gasp as they stumbled out of the cave, and blinking, he looked to where his son was looking. His muzzle fell open in horror.
A gargantuan, two legged creature was walking across the frozen landscape. It appeared to be formed of rock and fire, and it towered easily as high as their mountain refuge. Lava dripped out of it like sweat as it trudged through the wasteland, and behind it, a vast wall of flames boiled up to the smoke darkened sky. The massive beast's footsteps echoed across the land, followed by a shuddering of the earth. Distantly, they could make out what appeared to be ruins atop its shoulders. They could feel the heat of the wall of flames from where they stood, drowning out the icy cold and turning the battleground into a sauna.
"Dad…" Flame murmured, breathless with fright. "What is that?"
"I… I don't know." Conflagris answered, shivering at the sight. The beast continued its march across the arctic wastes, the earth quaking beneath its footsteps. It was an ominous sight, and it sent spikes of chilling terror down his spine as the creature made its way north, the vast wall of fire trailing in its wake.
A sharp splintering sound echoed around the area and Conflagris jerked around to face it. Waves of heat washed over the area and the ice beneath their paws quivered. Realization struck Conflagris all at once, and he turned around to face Flame, who had also turned to look for the sound.
"RUN! The snow and ice is melting! The whole area is going to flood!" Conflagris screamed. Flame stared at his father in shock for a moment, and then he bolted for the edge of Dante's Freezer, his father hot on his heels.
They had only just reached the edge of the frozen battleground when the ice split open, and a torrent of water exploded out, released from its icy prison. The icy water washed over the melting battleground, growing from a small stream to a giant wave as more of the ice and snow melted from the intense heat of the magma beast's flame.
The two fire dragons raced the growing wave of water towards the relative safety of a nearby ruined tower, filled with absolute terror as the looming threat approached. Behind them, the rapidly swelling wave raced towards them with impossible speed, towering over the two like a monument of doom, swallowing up everything in its path.
"Flame, Drop the crystals!" Conflagris shouted as they ran. Flame, who was lagging behind overburdened by his load tried desperately to keep up, feeling hopeless fear rising as the wave gained ground. The young dragon hesitated only for a second before slashing the straps of the bag off of him, and letting the sack fall to the ground. Flame glanced back only once as they neared shelter, and watched with dismay as the sack was devoured by the water.
They made it to the tower and up a single fight of stair before the wave hit the tower. The whole structure shook at the impact, the entrance flooding within seconds. Flame and Conflagris tore up the stairs panicked as the tower shook, the water beneath them rising as more and more water poured in.
The wave passed surged the tower, but couldn't topple it, and the two staggered up onto the top of the tower. They stopped, panting from the exhausting race they had just won, and looked around. What they saw stunned them into silence. Water stretched out, as far as the eye could see. A sea of icy water, melted from the ice and snow of the land. The tips of ruined towers and other structures stuck up out of the water, the only reminder that this place had once been the icy battle ground of Dante's Freezer. The lava beast was nowhere to be seen, but the wall of fire it left behind still raged in its wake, unquenched even by the sea of water.
"Ancestors above." Conflagris whispered in horror, looking around for any sign of dry land.
"What are we going to do?" Flame asked, in a hushed, fearful tone. Conflagris could only shake his head.
"I don't know. I just don't know."
They sat in silence, looking across the newly made sea. The two dragons eyed the wall of fire that stretched from horizon to horizon, which billowed black smoke and clouds of steam. A vast barrier of black and white towered into the sky, all but shrouding the flames from view. The quakes had stopped along with the disappearance of the monster.
Hours passed as they stared out at the sea trying to comprehend what had just happened. Finally, as the sun approach the horizon Conflagris spoke.
"I think the water is shallow enough for us to start making our return journey home. Most of it seems to have evaporated."
"Couldn't we just fly, dad?" Flame inquired, looking at his father puzzled. Conflagris nodded.
"We will, but with my packs we'll need to land often, and if the water is too deep, we won't have anywhere to land."
"Oh. But do we need the packs? Wouldn't it be better if we got home as soon as possible?"
"I think we'll need them. Who knows what might have happened while we were gone. These crystals will be needed now more than ever."
"I suppose…"
"Come on, Flame. Let's go." Conflagris moved to strap on his packs again, but Flame stopped him.
"I'll carry one too. I lost mine in the flood, so I will carry one of yours."
Conflagris looked as if he was going to argue, and then thought better of it. He shoved his pack over to Flame, who strapped it on. With the crystals securely tied onto the dragon's backs, they took off, flying high over the water as they turned back in the direction of their mountain home.
"I just hope nothing has happened to them." Conflagris thought, worried as he took the lead, Flame not far behind. Flame and Conflagris stopped frequently during their flight, landing on outcrops of rock and hills when they could, and splashing through shallow waters when they couldn't. The level of the water dropped as they flew, the heat from the fire evaporating the water as quickly as a desert sun. Even though they were fire dragons, they were used to the arctic cold and the heat was unbearable. They found the sauna-like-heat draining. Yet, their honed arctic instincts refused to abandon their fur coats.
They were wading through shallow melt-off water, still dozens of miles from their destination when a long, shuddering groan caused the two to stop in their tracks.
"Dad...?" Flame asked, fear beginning to edge back into his voice as they stood stalk still in the waist high water.
Conflagris was about to answer when the earthquake hit. They were knocked off their paws and sent sprawling into the water as the tremors rocked the ground like a ship at sea. The water around them, which had been calm and placid, jumped and sloshed to and fro, creating small waves that jarred them even further.
"What's... Going on?" Flame choked through mouthfuls of water as he struggled back up to his paws.
Another long groan came from the ground beneath them, and an earth shattering cracking noise reverberated around them. The quakes abruptly stopped, and the two floundered to their paws, looking at each other with shocked and anxious expressions.
The world split open beneath their paws.
Flame screamed as the water rushed into the vast crevice that shrieked open nearby, They braced themselves against the flood as it flowed into the hole like a whirlpool. More and more crevices tore open, the world shuddering as it seemed to rip itself apart. The two fur shrouded fire dragons clung to the sodden frost packed earth with all their might as the shallow sea was drained away.
Flame started to feel the swell of panic as the world quaked and spasmed beneath his paws, he could hardly breathe through the flood of water as it flowed past him. A sudden geyser of steam erupted in the distance as a column of molten magma exploded from out of the earth nearly touching the clouds before spilling back down into the sea of melted ice.
"Fly Flame! Fly!" Conflagris roared over the grinding of the dying world. "It isn't safe on the ground! Fly!"
Flame unfurled his wings and tried to balance himself enough to take flight, it was difficult but he managed it. Once the young red was out of the water and off the ground he quickly ascended so that he was well clear of the cataclysm around him. Conflagris too, struggled up into the air, and made it just as another crevice opened up where he had been.
The two hovered there, panting and staring around them in horror. The world below shook and shuddered and vast chasms grinded open across the now drained surface of the once frozen plains. The wall of fire that blazed in the distance raged even higher than before, blotting out the sky. Flame watched a family of snowbears charging across the plains, roaring in fear as they were swallowed up by geyser of molten rock.
A shrieking of rock on rock sounded below, and Conflagris glanced down to see what it was. His jaw fell open in amazement. A vast section of the ground slowly pulled away from the world, and ascended into the sky. It ground its way up, frozen dirt pouring off of the rock as it made its way up out of the crust of the world. In the distance, more chunks of earth started to break away from the world, grinding out of the earth with screeches of stone on stone.
Flame, burning with curiosity, flew a little closer to the chunk of rock.
"Wait, Flame!" Conflagris shouted, fear echoing in his voice.
The piece of the world finally tore itself free from the world, and hung suspended in thin air, floating without any supports. A howling rush of wind rushed into the vacuum gap that had opened up with the separation of land, catching Flame and sending him spinning out of control into the abyss, screaming in absolute terror as he was dragged into the darkness, his sack of crystals torn from his back.
Conflagris wasted only a second in taking off after his son, cutting away his own bag of crystals and free falling after Flame. He plummeted down into the black hole left in the world, hurtling after his son like a red comet.
Flame struggled desperately to regain control as he sped into the abyss, twisting this way and that, trying to right himself so he could halt his plunge. Abruptly the long chasm he had been falling through vanished, and Flame found himself in a colossal cavern that stretched into oblivion. There was only darkness of the cave, along with a pool of lava pouring into the chasm to light the darkness.
Conflagris suddenly appeared and swooped over to his son, spreading out his wings and grabbing the younger dragon in his forepaws, halting his fall.
"Are you alright!" Conflagris demanded of his son worriedly, looking him over for any injuries as he slowed to a hover.
"Yeah, thanks dad." Flame sighed in relief, sagging a little, relaxing his tensed body. Conflagris reluctantly let Flame go and the young dragon stretched out his wings and hovered alongside his father. The distant grinding of pieces of the world echoed around the massive cavern. Flame looked down to the bottom of the cavern; there was no sign of a bottom, only endless darkness.
"Dad...?" Flame asked, looking back up at his father, his expression fearful. "Is the world ending?" He asked with resignation, as if he knew already knew the answer. Conflagris looked at his son, feeling the hopelessness of the situation welling up in him as well.
"I... I don't know." Conflagris replied after a long moment, and Flame looked down despairingly. They both knew the truth: the world was coming to an end. Whole chunks of the world's crust were being pulled out like pieces of a giant puzzle, and sent floating up into the sky; there was no other explanation for what could be happening.
"I just... I just wish I could have gotten to see mom, and Autumn one more time." Flame choked, tears threatening to overwhelm him. Conflagris blinked back tears of his own, and he glided over to Flame whose red body was shaking with sorrow and fear.
They hovered close together, comforting each other in their last moments, grieving for the life they would never live, and the family they would never see again.
Then, suddenly, a faint light shone from the depths of the abyss below, a pure white incandescence through the pitch blackness of the void. Flame blinked in surprise and looked down towards the distant light, which grew more intense with each passing second. Conflagris noticed the light too, and watched it, puzzled.
"Is this the end?" He thought gravely as the light approached. "Are we about to die?"
The light neared, and Conflagris shut his eyes tight, and grabbed hold of Flame in one last final embrace, tears streaking his face. Flame also clamped onto his father, tense as he waited for death to claim them. The light flew past them like a flood, engulfing the two in brilliant whiteness, passing them by completely unharmed.
It felt like a gentle breeze to the two, who then opened their eyes startled. The entire world was now brightly lit and they could clearly see the holes in the world above, which had all but shattered into a million pieces. The incessant quakes and shudders that had filled the cavern with noise abruptly ceased, leaving the two in total silence for a moment as the light bathed the broken fragments of the world in its radiance.
Then, the low grinding started up again, but this time it was different. Instead of the screech of stone on stone as the world tore itself apart, this was a low rumble of stone falling back into place.
Conflagris and Flame watched, astounded as the floating pieces of the world started to fit back together. It appeared haphazard, with many fragments not returning to their original places.
"It's... It's going back! The world isn't ending!" Flame cheered, a wide smile breaking out across his features. Conflagris felt giddy relief wash over him, and he hugged his son tighter in joy.
"We're safe! We're safe Flame! Oh it's good to be alive, now we can..." Conflagris stopped in mid-sentence as one of the fragments ground into place, sealing a portion of the world above from view. He glanced down at Flame, sudden panic taking hold. "THE SURFACE! WE HAVE TO GET TO THE SURFACE!"
Flame looked at his father uncomprehending for a moment, then realization struck. If they didn't reach the surface, they would be trapped down here, under the world's surface never able to escape. They broke away from each other and took off towards the nearest gap in the world's crust.
Conflagris let Flame take the lead, out of fear he might lose his son and accidentally leave him behind. They sped into the crevice that lead back up to the surface, dodging the many falling rocks and debris as it fell. They wound through the twisting passage that lead at an almost vertical angle up.
As they ascended, Conflagris soon noticed the crevice growing smaller, as the pieces slowly ground back into place. The exit back out to the surface was still far away, and the passage walls were getting uncomfortably close to his wings.
Conflagris pushed himself harder, wings pumping as they shot up towards safety, breath coming out in hard gasps. Flame, spurred on by his father's increased struggle also picked up the pace, straining his muscles to their upmost limit to reach the top, eyes squeezed almost shut and breathing hard.
Despite their rapid pace, the exit seemed too far off, and the walls were now brushing Conflagris's out stretched wing tips, forcing him to withdraw slightly. It was then that it came to him, sharp and painful as a knife in his heart: He wouldn't make it. The gap would be too small for him to fly through by the time he got anywhere near the surface. Even now he was being forced to draw his wings in, inch by inch, slowing his ascent as surely as the walls moved in to crush them. Flame was further ahead now, not impaired by a larger wing span, and was gaining ground faster than his father.
Conflagris took a long shuddering breath at the implications of his thoughts. He knew now he would have no chance of making it out, but Flame was small enough, and further enough ahead to make it. But the adult dragon also knew his son would never abandon him, even if it meant he would escape. Conflagris's wings were now a quarter of the way drawn in, and he was finding it difficult to flap his wings to gain altitude. The exit was now in sight, but was still too distant to see clearly in the dim light of the passage.
"Flame must make it." Conflagris thought, determinedly as he gradually made his way up, gritting his fangs as the rock scraped against his wings. "I won't let him die, even if I have to. He still has so much to live for. So much to see and experience. I've lived my life, and though I wish I could keep on living it, I'm content with what I've done. Flame doesn't deserve to die yet. And I won't let him."
"Flame!" Conflagris called out to his son over the grating sound of stone on stone as the crevice slowly but surely closed in to crush them.
"Yeah dad?" Flame called back looking down to his father, only now realizing how far behind he was.
"I love you, and I'm sorry." Conflagris took a deep breath, gathering all of his magic up into himself, and then released it all in an explosion of heat energy up towards his son. The wave of superheated air caught Flame's wings like a tidal wave, and sent him rocketing up the passage shaft, towards the exit. Flame, screamed as he was shot up the passage like an arrow, not just from fear, but also from the realization that his father had given up, and sacrificed himself for him.
"DAD! NOOO!" Flame howled in grief, tears welling up in his eyes as he hurtled towards the surface in an uncontrollable ascent. Far below, Conflagris smiled sadly, as he watched his son vanish in the distance, quickly approaching safety high above.
"I'm so sorry Flame. I hope you'll forgive me." He whispered, half in prayer half to himself, closing his eyes as tears flowed freely down his saddened face. "Take care of yourself, find a good mate and be happy. Don't waste your life on pointless things, and enjoy every moment. If you can find them again, take good care of your sister and mother, and never look back."
Then, with a long, painful sigh, Conflagris folded his wings, his ascent slowed to a stop, and then he fell back into the abyss, eyes closed and a small, sad smile creasing his features.
"Remember I will always love you, son."
The walls of the passage rushed by Flame in a blur, the stone walls of the crevice bashed up against him as the momentum gained from the hot wind carried him up. Sharp rocks cut through his fur coat and tore long gashes into him as he went.
"Why dad? Why? We could have made it together." Flame thought mournfully, tears streaking his face. "You didn't have to do this, it isn't fair! You can' t leave me like this. You can't leave mom and sis."
And then suddenly there was light, bright and vibrant. A wash of colour as Flame was expelled violently from the crevice. Green, brown, a rainbow of other colours along with the smell of warm, fresh air. Flame revelled in it for a moment, forgetting for a moment the horror of losing what might be his last family member. And then there was a blinding flash of pain as his head met with something hard, stars erupted in his vision, and he thumped heavily to the ground, like a rag doll.
As darkness claimed him, Flame could just vaguely make out the sight of the crevice he had come through grinding shut, closing forever on what lay below. And then sweet oblivion took him, and he saw no more.
The birds sang sweetly in the warm morning of the forest, the songs joyful and clear, full of hope and wonder. The skies were clear, with only a few clouds speckling the vibrant blue of the noon sky. Trees in the forest were upturned, and mounds of dirt littered the area. A great disaster had occurred, that had shaken the very world apart. Yet, despite the terror and horror of the disaster, the world still lived, tranquil and content.
The village that the small forest sheltered had hardly been affected by the sundering of the world. The quakes had knocked down some trees, ruined several houses, but overall the damage was far from severe. The villagers worked, talking excitedly among themselves. They all knew what had happened, but none knew of its cause or meaning. They had all seen the chunks of earth pulling free from the world, and knew that the world was coming to an end. They had waited hopelessly for their lives to be snuffed out, families huddling together awaiting the inevitable. And then miraculously a great light had appeared and pulled it all back together again.
Now, as they worked to repair the damage to their homes and village, they felt a sensation they had not felt for years: Hope. Something extraordinary had just happened, something amazing. So little had happened that was good in these dark times that the thought that something, anything, had changed for the better was exciting to consider.
The village was large for a settlement of its kind, sporting a population of nearly three hundred people. Most were dragons who had fled Malefor's genocide, but a scattering of felines, canines and avians also made up a good portion of the populace.
Their houses were made of sturdy wooden logs, and camouflaged with leaves, grass and mud. If one did not know what to look for, they would have never found the hidden village, it was what kept them safe for all these years.
Out at the rim of the village, a young pink dragoness wandered around, picking flowers and plants and stuffing them in a braided basket hanging around her neck. She was slightly built, only a bit larger in size than normal for dragonesses her age. She had baby blue eyes, ram like horns, and a long frill that ran down her back to the tip of her tail, which ended in a heart shaped spike. An old heart shaped pendant of gold and ruby hung around her neck, and braids of small flowers were twined around her ram horns.
She worked diligently, picking many of the herbs that littered the forest floor. She was careful, but swift, packing the plants into the basket she carried and moving on to the next patch of herbs she came across. After nearly half an hour of picking, the dragoness stretched and looked up from her work, blinking to clear her vision after staring so hard at the ground.
She examined her surroundings with interest now, a whimsical smile creasing her features. This day was special, she could feel that. Until today, she had never truly appreciated how beautiful the world was, and how wonderful she had it. When the world had been literally crumbling around her, the realisation of everything she would miss had come crashing down, ripping her apart and bringing her to tears. But then everything had abruptly returned to normal, and the dragoness had suddenly found herself marvelling at things she had once thought mundane, seeing how incredible everything truly was.
The dragoness sighed and turned back to the village. She looked at everything with child-like-wonder as she entered the village and made her way to the healers hut. There had been no deaths during the cataclysm, but many had been injured from falling debris and objects. One poor villager's house had collapsed on top of him, breaking many of his bones, but amazingly not killing him. The pink dragoness, along with several other young dragons had been sent out to collect herbs for the healers, who had been running low on medicine even before the disaster.
The dragoness was so busy marvelling at her surroundings that she nearly walked past the healer's hut, but she was brought up short by a friendly voice calling to her.
"Hey Ember! The infirmary is over here!"
Ember, the pink dragoness looked sharply towards the voice and smiled.
"Oh, Liliah, I didn't see you there!" Ember rushed over to the grass green earth dragoness and hugged her tight. Liliah was short and slim, with six horns sprouting from her head. Her blue eyes smiled as they embraced.
"Oh, Ember, I wasn't sure we were going to make it. I thought we were all going to die!"
"I know! I thought I would never get to eat one of your mom's meat pies ever again!" Ember laughed, Liliah pushed her away, looking at her incredulously.
"What! We were all going to die, and you wanted a pie!"
Ember snickered at her dumbfounded face. "Of course, they're to die for!"
Liliah groaned and shook her head. "That's not funny."
"Neither are you, sour puss." Ember declared haughtily, marching into the healers hut with a glib smirk. Liliah followed after, grumbling.
Ember shrugged her basket off and dropped it onto the floor in the entrance of the healer's hut. She could see the shapes of patients lying on mats, groaning at their injuries, and the figures of the three healers moving around the area tending to them. Ember turned and pranced out as Liliah came in. The green earth dragoness took her own basket off hurriedly and scrambled off after Ember back out into the village.
Ember greeted all of the villagers cheerfully as she made her way back to her own house. Ember's home was smaller than most of the other villager's houses. It was squat, but wide and covered with grass to hide it from view. Two tiny windows peeked out from beneath the long strands of grass, and could be easily shuttered so they would vanish among the growth.
Ember opened the carefully hidden door and slipped inside, Liliah following close behind. The interior of the hut was modest in decoration, with a few straw mattresses, wooden tables and wool cushions. The walls, where on the outside were mud and grass, were actually warm cherry wood logs all placed tightly together. The smell of sizzling pork roast wafted around the hut, and Ember sighed contentedly.
"Grandma, I'm home!"
An elderly pink dragoness stepped into the main room, and grinned warmly. "Ember! Just in time for some lunch. Hello Liliah, come, you're welcome to join us." The decrepit dragoness turned back into the kitchen and the two younger dragonesses eagerly followed.
Ember and Liliah lined up at the table, and sliced themselves generous portions from the steaming roast. They ate slowly, savouring the meal they had not thought they would ever eat again.
Grandma sliced the rest of the roast and wrapped it up in several small packages. Once the two young dragonesses finished their meal, The elder placed the packages in front of them.
"Would you two be dears and give these out to the boys who are fixing my garden shed? They have been working so hard and deserve a nice lunch."
"Yes Grandma." Ember chirped, smiling slyly as she grabbed a basket, picked up half of the packages, and plopped them inside. Liliah followed suit, and they padded out of the front door. They turned right and walked around to the back of the house, where they caught sight of several male dragons working on a half collapsed shed in the middle of a garden patch. Two grey wind dragon brothers threw fresh planks of wood up to a yellow lightning dragon, who caught them and held them in place for a large green earth dragon who hammered it into place with nails and his hammer-like tail. A fire and ice dragon sawed planks of wood from logs piled nearby. They chattered boisterously as they worked, laughing at jokes that only males could understand.
The moment they came into sight, Ember's walk changed to a strut. She started moving her body to accentuate her best features. Her expression however, remained sly and calculating as she approached them, her muzzle pulled into a small smirk.
When she came into view the males immediately stopped working to stare as she approached. Behind her, Liliah sighed and rolled her eyes, disgusted at the Ember's sudden change. Ember strutted over to the nearest male, and smiled up at him.
"Why hello there." She all but purred, eyeing him with interest. "I've got a little present for you all, for being so helpful and kind for helping us with our shed. Please, I insist." Ember opened the basket with care, and handed the wind dragon in front of her one of the wrapped packages. He took it, but was too busy staring at Ember. The pink dragoness winked, and the male blushed lightly.
Ember moved on, padding over to his brother and giving him a package. "It's a pork roast, grandma made it special for you. You deserve the best for being so sweet as to help us."
Liliah pursed her lips in disdain as she and her friend handed out the packages. The males took them, but no one paid any attention to Liliah, all of their eyes were fixed on Ember.
The pink dragoness reached the ice dragon who had been sawing, and eyed him up and down slowly. He blushed madly as she moved up to him, and handed him the last package, a low purr escaping her throat.
"And who is this strong dragon? You certainly are a stud, aren't you? I wonder..." Ember trailed off, and prowled around him as if to examine him. He stood stalk still, eyes wide like a frightened deer, his face almost crimson.
Liliah coughed, and Ember looked up at her and sighed sadly.
"Oh, I almost forgot. I have to go out and get more herbs. Maybe we can continue this conversation some other time..." Ember disengaged from the ice dragon and moved away at a leisurely pace. The other males glared at the ice jealously as the two females left. The ice just stared off after Ember, a look of disbelief on his face.
Ember and Liliah entered the forest, and were quickly lost from view. The moment they were out of earshot, Ember's strutting facade collapsed and she burst into peels of laughter. The pink dragoness nearly toppling over and was forced to lean on a tree for support as she howled in glee, tears starting to roll down her face with the violence of her laughter.
"Did you... Did you see the looks on their faces!"
Liliah shook her head in exasperation as her pink friend laughed hysterically.
"That wasn't funny Ember!" Liliah scolded, frowning at Ember, who ignored her. "I don't know why you find it amusing to toy with guy's hearts like that."
"I wasn't toying with their hearts." Ember corrected, still giggling. "And don't tell me this wasn't funny?"
Ember let her face slacken, her jaw falling open in a stupid expression of disbelief. Her tongue lolled out, and for added effect, she crossed her eyes and tilted her head slightly to the side.
Liliah couldn't help but giggle a bit at her friend's face. "Okay, I admit that their faces were pretty funny. But that doesn't make what you did right!"
"Spoilsport." Ember huffed, letting the expression fade. "Why can't you lighten up a little? We're alive and well! Why can't we have a little fun?"
"But Ember! What will people say if you keep this up? Most of the villagers already think of you as..."
"Easy? A slut? You know that isn't true. Rumours and nothing more."
"But People talk. And with the way you act, people will think..."
"I don't care what they think!" Ember growled, pushing off of the tree she had been leaning on and continuing her walk. "I haven't slept with anyone. And I don't intend to until I find the perfect guy. All I want to do is have some laughs. If people talk, let them. I know it isn't true, you know it isn't true, and Grandma knows it isn't true. That's good enough for me."
Liliah sighed and took off after Ember, who had sped up to a swift trot.
"I suppose. But with the way you are acting, you are bound to get into trouble eventually."
"I can take care of myself you know." Ember grunted, not looking in the green dragoness's direction.
"All I'm trying to say is..." Whatever Liliah was going to say was cut off as they entered a small grove and saw a motionless figure lying beside a large boulder. They both stopped in their tracks, staring at the figure with anxious surprise. From where they stood, the form appeared to be covered in a thick white fur. It was roughly their size and lay on its side, unmoving.
Ember scanned the area, and noticed a smudge of blood on the rock by the figure. She took a step forward, towards the figure.
"What are you doing!" Liliah hissed in a frightened whisper. "It could be dangerous."
Ember wavered for half a second, and then continued forward regardless of her companion's protests. Liliah looked between the foreign creature that lay on the ground, and her pink fire dragon friend who neared the furry shape. Then making up her mind, she followed cautiously after Ember.
The pink dragon stopped by the motionless form, and examined it closely. It appeared to be a dragon completely covered in white fur, and which lay unnaturally still. The fur over the dragon's face was soaked red. Ember touched the fur and found several torn spots, that parted to reveal scales beneath. It was then she realised it wasn't a furry dragon at all, but rather a thick coat of woven fur patches that covered every inch of the dragon's body.
With this revelation, Ember proceeded to tear the fur coat from the unconscious dragon's body, fully exposing his vibrant crimson scales. Liliah gasped as Ember stripped the comatose dragon, removing the heavy fur coat as quickly as possible. His two deep red horns matched the colour of the bloody scab that encrusted most of his head. A long orange frill cut down his spine to the tip of his tail.
Ember examined the wound, and then looked up to Liliah. "Get a healer. He's badly hurt. Who knows what might happen if he isn't taken care of immediately."
Liliah paused, and then ran from the grove back towards the village as fast as she could. Ember turned back to the unconscious red. He appeared to be around fourteen years of age, two years younger than Ember, but was of considerably larger build than most males she knew.
While she waited, Ember gathered some herbs and worked swiftly, made a poultice that she smeared over the dragon's wound.
"Don't worry." Ember whispered, looking into his closed eyes. "We will take care of you, I promise."
Characters that belong to Dardarax:
Liliah
Conflagris
Milona
Autumn
Agghhh, thank goodness this is finally done! I'm sorry to have made you wait for so long for this, but I just had such a hard time writing it! The first half was such a pain to write, no matter how hard I tried it wouldn't come out like I wanted it to! The second half with Ember was much more entertaining to write though. And yes, this is how I view Ember, a kidder and a party girl. She flirts, but she doesn't do it because she actually likes the guys she flirts with. She does it because it's fun to embarrass them. :P Now, back to Dark Legacy! Hopefully this won't take nearly as long, and come out sooner, rather than later.