p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"Going through the portal still sucked in Makoto's opinion. It felt like it was ripping you apart and putting you back together each time you went through it, and it also left an odd sensation of pins and needles throughout the whole body once you got to your destination. He, Kaede, and Ryou were now located in the last remaining town of the lower ward in Atlantis, which was barren now, save for them and the ISDF. Everyone had been evacuated due to Nyala trying to crush through and destroy Atlantis. The waves splashing up against the rocks of the ward were typically soothing, but it was giving Makoto a headache. The strong sea breeze was stronger than he remembered, making him slightly nauseous. Ryou shot him a concerned look when he saw that he was turning an unhealthy shade of green. "Dude, please don't vomit. That'd ruin this moment." He said and Makoto let out a dry laugh. "I'll try not to."/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"As they walked a bit from their spawn point, Makoto spotted the ISDF members waiting for them. They seemed to just be standing in formation, but Yoritomo looked a little pissed off that they were late. As they approached the ISDF members, Yoritomo let out a slight huff. "You're all a bit late. Why?" He asked, his arms crossed over his chest. Makoto groaned slightly. "I'm the reason. I didn't sleep much last night, and I overslept slightly. I'm sorry." He apologized, and a frown tugged at Yoritomo's lips. "Well. Don't hold us back then." He letcured, and gave orders to his troops, who all dispersed around the area to keep watch. Makoto's eyes landed on Yuma, who was staring back at him. He smiled and gave a small wave, and Yuma looked a bit surprised, before joining up with Yoritomo to keep an eye out for dragons. Makoto sighed. /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"His watch vibrated for a moment, and he lifted it up to see Nagamimi pop up in a holographic state. "Are you going off to check on Ulania or not?" With that, the transmission cut out, Makoto turned to Kaede and Ryou, who still loved the sights of the lower ward with the gemstones that stuck out from the sides, and the water that rushed through it. This isn't their first time seeing it though, so their wonder over it should of waned by now. "Come on, let's head off to go see Ulania." He said, and together as a group, they headed towards the forge./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"The walk there was uneventful. There wasn't a single monster even in sight as they walked along the jagged path, the crystals lighting their way. It was eerily silent as well, and when they were close to the entrance of the forge, the smell of blood hit Makoto like a truck. He leaned against the wall beside them, holding down the urge of gag. Kaede rushed over to him, Ryou in tow. "What's wrong Makoto?" She asked softly, and Ryou looked concerned. Makoto shook his head, and sucked in a breath. "We should hurry up. Something doesn't seem right." He urged, before they began to pick up the pace. As they got closer to the forge, the smell became more pungent and Makoto shuddered. Something was very, emvery/em wrong and the closer they got, the more the feeling gnawed at him. /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"They rushed into the forge, to find it a bloody mess. The blacksmith and a guard that stayed behind to watch over Ulania were laying on the ground, broken and punctured with teeth marks. Ulania's body was slumped over the smithy, her body slightly mangled with large bite marks into her torso. Her blood poured over the unfinished Dragon Slayer; the sword now a dull shade of grey and not completed. The sound of something clacking its teeth together made Makoto wheel around, to find a dragon licking its chops clean of the blood. Blood stained its claws and its red tinted scales, and it eyed him, Kaede, and Ryou with a hungering gaze. Ryou took a step back, reading his deck for battle, while Kaede slipped on her brass knuckles, glaring at the dragon. /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"Makoto, however, just stood and watched as the dragon trudged towards them, sniffing at the air. Usually, dragons just attacked them with wild abandon, but this one approached him, a bit wary and curious Kaede stood her guard and Ryou set up a trap around himself, both backing away as the dragon came closer and closer. This wasn't suppose to happen. This isn't what happens. /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;""Makoto, what are you doing?!" Kaede yelled as the dragon stood barely a few feet from him. "It'll kill you without a second thought, now move!" The dragon stared down at him with its piercing yellow eyes, taking in his presence. Before he could pull his gun from its holster, a hopeful feeling tugged at him. He could retry, and make things right. Sounds around him slowly became muddled, as if he was submerged into water. He could hear Kaede screaming at him to move as the dragon's jaws opened up, the blood dripping down its chin, as it twisted its head to the side so it could snap him in half as it did Ulania. Before it could crunch down on him, a blinding light engulfed the area around him and he shut his eyes as he fell into an abyss./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"As he fell, Makoto could hear clocks tick tocking around him. He opened his eyes, and saw his own memories circle around him, connected together in a line of photographs. Behind them was a backdrop of the sky as his memories flowed around him. Bits and pieces of when he, Kaede, and Ryou had taken down Nyala with several new members of their friends cheering them on. Another memory flickered in front of him of when he and Ryou were studying about the Dragon Calamity of 2021 in the reference room during the middle of the night, because neither of them could sleep. One of Kaede slugging him when she was teaching him hand to hand combat back when they first joined Nodens. Another of when he rushed into a fight to stop Kaede from taking a blow by an enemy. /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"As Makoto fell deeper and deeper, the calmness he felt twisted into fear. The sky behind the a pair of his memories cracked, before shattering like glass in two spots directly above him. The fragments floated down towards him, the memories still playing on the pieces. Shielding himself from the glass, it faded out of existence as white Dragonsbane exploded from these holes, several of the flowers falling from the openings as whatever remained lined the gaps. A pair of violet eyes stared down at him, a malicious glint in them. It was the same dragon silhouette he saw when he had changed his fate back in Julietta's lab, and anxiety gripped him./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"It was VFD. Makoto landed on his back with a yelp, the abyss finally ending. Groaning, he sat up, and glanced upwards to see that his memories were still twirling around him, faster than before. His eyes could barely keep up with them as they moved, and something colliding with the walls of his memories shook the area he was standing in, but didn't puncture it. VFD roared before it reared up to collide into the wall once more, and Makoto felt the ground beneath his feet disappear as he fell down into the abyss again. A splitting headache clouded his senses as the ticking of the clocks stopped, and a bell chimed style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"br /span/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"As they walked a bit from their spawn point, Makoto spotted the ISDF members waiting for them. They seemed to just be standing in formation, but Yoritomo looked a little pissed off that they were late. As they approached the ISDF members, Yoritomo let out a slight huff. "You're all a bit late. Why?" He asked, his arms crossed over his chest. Makoto groaned slightly. "I'm the reason. I didn't sleep much last night, and I overslept slightly. I'm sorry." He apologized, and a frown tugged at Yoritomo's lips. "Well. Don't hold us back then." He letcured, and gave orders to his troops, who all dispersed around the area to keep watch. Makoto's eyes landed on Yuma, who was staring back at him. He smiled and gave a small wave, and Yuma looked a bit surprised, before joining up with Yoritomo to keep an eye out for dragons. Makoto sighed. /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"His watch vibrated for a moment, and he lifted it up to see Nagamimi pop up in a holographic state. "Are you going off to check on Ulania or not?" With that, the transmission cut out, Makoto turned to Kaede and Ryou, who still loved the sights of the lower ward with the gemstones that stuck out from the sides, and the water that rushed through it. This isn't their first time seeing it though, so their wonder over it should of waned by now. "Come on, let's head off to go see Ulania." He said, and together as a group, they headed towards the forge./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"The walk there was uneventful. There wasn't a single monster even in sight as they walked along the jagged path, the crystals lighting their way. It was eerily silent as well, and when they were close to the entrance of the forge, the smell of blood hit Makoto like a truck. He leaned against the wall beside them, holding down the urge of gag. Kaede rushed over to him, Ryou in tow. "What's wrong Makoto?" She asked softly, and Ryou looked concerned. Makoto shook his head, and sucked in a breath. "We should hurry up. Something doesn't seem right." He urged, before they began to pick up the pace. As they got closer to the forge, the smell became more pungent and Makoto shuddered. Something was very, emvery/em wrong and the closer they got, the more the feeling gnawed at him. /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"They rushed into the forge, to find it a bloody mess. The blacksmith and a guard that stayed behind to watch over Ulania were laying on the ground, broken and punctured with teeth marks. Ulania's body was slumped over the smithy, her body slightly mangled with large bite marks into her torso. Her blood poured over the unfinished Dragon Slayer; the sword now a dull shade of grey and not completed. The sound of something clacking its teeth together made Makoto wheel around, to find a dragon licking its chops clean of the blood. Blood stained its claws and its red tinted scales, and it eyed him, Kaede, and Ryou with a hungering gaze. Ryou took a step back, reading his deck for battle, while Kaede slipped on her brass knuckles, glaring at the dragon. /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"Makoto, however, just stood and watched as the dragon trudged towards them, sniffing at the air. Usually, dragons just attacked them with wild abandon, but this one approached him, a bit wary and curious Kaede stood her guard and Ryou set up a trap around himself, both backing away as the dragon came closer and closer. This wasn't suppose to happen. This isn't what happens. /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;""Makoto, what are you doing?!" Kaede yelled as the dragon stood barely a few feet from him. "It'll kill you without a second thought, now move!" The dragon stared down at him with its piercing yellow eyes, taking in his presence. Before he could pull his gun from its holster, a hopeful feeling tugged at him. He could retry, and make things right. Sounds around him slowly became muddled, as if he was submerged into water. He could hear Kaede screaming at him to move as the dragon's jaws opened up, the blood dripping down its chin, as it twisted its head to the side so it could snap him in half as it did Ulania. Before it could crunch down on him, a blinding light engulfed the area around him and he shut his eyes as he fell into an abyss./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"As he fell, Makoto could hear clocks tick tocking around him. He opened his eyes, and saw his own memories circle around him, connected together in a line of photographs. Behind them was a backdrop of the sky as his memories flowed around him. Bits and pieces of when he, Kaede, and Ryou had taken down Nyala with several new members of their friends cheering them on. Another memory flickered in front of him of when he and Ryou were studying about the Dragon Calamity of 2021 in the reference room during the middle of the night, because neither of them could sleep. One of Kaede slugging him when she was teaching him hand to hand combat back when they first joined Nodens. Another of when he rushed into a fight to stop Kaede from taking a blow by an enemy. /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"As Makoto fell deeper and deeper, the calmness he felt twisted into fear. The sky behind the a pair of his memories cracked, before shattering like glass in two spots directly above him. The fragments floated down towards him, the memories still playing on the pieces. Shielding himself from the glass, it faded out of existence as white Dragonsbane exploded from these holes, several of the flowers falling from the openings as whatever remained lined the gaps. A pair of violet eyes stared down at him, a malicious glint in them. It was the same dragon silhouette he saw when he had changed his fate back in Julietta's lab, and anxiety gripped him./p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"It was VFD. Makoto landed on his back with a yelp, the abyss finally ending. Groaning, he sat up, and glanced upwards to see that his memories were still twirling around him, faster than before. His eyes could barely keep up with them as they moved, and something colliding with the walls of his memories shook the area he was standing in, but didn't puncture it. VFD roared before it reared up to collide into the wall once more, and Makoto felt the ground beneath his feet disappear as he fell down into the abyss again. A splitting headache clouded his senses as the ticking of the clocks stopped, and a bell chimed style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"span style="font-size: medium;"br /span/span/p
p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" /p