Days and days had passed by for Amelia. They were filled with noting but awkward silence and worry. For some reason, she had not seen Durbe. Mizael wasn't around either, nor was Spitz Spitz Flame. Amelia was beginning to worry that something might have happened to them.
"I don't like this," Amelia said, petting Frost's fur. He grunted, as if asking permission to know what it was his master did not like.
"This entire thing. Though the birds are still chirping and the sun is still shining, I have yet to see a familiar soul other than you, Frost, and it troubles me."
Frost seemed to understand this. He sat up a bit and nuzzled Amelia, giving her access to climb on top of him. When she did, he turned around and flew out of the mouth of the cave. For once, Amelia didn't tell him where to go.
He kind of just flew on his own.
That was good. It was what Frost had been hoping for. Ever since the night he'd heard Black Lust and Mizael go out of the cave, he could smell their blood. Whatever had happened had obviously been bad, for they hadn't come back. But it hadn't just been Mizael and Black Lust he'd figured had run into something bad. Durbe, too, had to have done so, as he and Mach hadn't been wandering around with Amelia for any of those days. If he was really okay, he'd be with Amelia right now, not out and about acting as though nothing were wrong.
And Frost was determined to find them all.
The ice dragon took a sharp left, causing Amelia to about fall off his back. She yelped, grabbing some of his fur to keep balance. Her brunette hair was going around in wild circles do to the wind, but for once, Amelia didn't care. She was too concerned with what Frost was doing to care about anything else.
"Frost, what on Earth are you doing?" Amelia asked, inching closer to the ice dragon's face. Frost roared and used his tail to point to the ground. When Amelia looked, she gasped, a horrified look on her face.
Everyone was dead. Corpses were scattered all around. Amelia couldn't believe it. Even Nasch and Merag were dead!
"W-What happened here?" Amelia stammered, climbing off of Frost when he got on the ground. She gulped, shivering a little bit, and took a few steps forward. Mizael was no where to be seen, and neither was Durbe. This gave her some hope that maybe, just maybe, they were alright and okay. But seeing as the king and the princess of the nearest land were gone, Amelia was having her doubts, for she knew that would only happen if Durbe wasn't at his post.
Or, worse, if he'd been killed.
Frost let out a roar. This gained Amelia's attention. She let out a startled yell when Frost wrapped his tail around her, carrying her with him to where he thought something smelled off. Amelia blinked her sky-blue eyes, curious to know what her ice dragon was up to.
It did not take long for her to find out.
After a few miles of running, Amelia could also sense something off balance. Both of them cried out in shock when they saw Mizael, laying there in the grass. He was not moving, nor was he breathing. Amelia was terrified. She stood completely still when Frost untangled her from his tail, but she soon walked forward, falling to her knees when she got to the blond's side.
"M-Mizael," Amelia stammered. "Mizael, w-wake up. P-P-Please, wake up. This isn't f-funny."
It wasn't a joke. Amelia knew this. She just wanted it to be fake. She wanted this to be a cruel joke so that she could be mad for one moment, then hug everyone the next.
That would never happen.
Out of the blue, Frost let out a roar of rage and fear. He bent down very low to the ground, his great, icy wings pressed against his body. Amelia, noticing her dragon's strange and uncharacteristic behavior, looked up at him, her sky-blue eyes wide with curiosity.
"Frost?" Amelia asked. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"
The answer Frost gave was dramatic, to say the least. He wrapped his large tail around Amelia's waist, then began to run away. After about five or six long gallops, he took off into the air, soaring away at a speed that Amelia never knew possible for the ice dragon. Considering the fact she'd recently found out he had a rare heart condition she lacked the knowledge to heal, this was rather remarkable.
Frost took a sharp left, then crashed down onto the ground. He looked around, nose in the air. Amelia figured out what he was doing pretty quickly. Smelling. Frost was smelling the air.
"What do you smell, Frost?" Amelia asked, freeing herself from her dragon's tail. He raised his head a little higher, taking in another whiff of the air. When he seemed satisfied, Frost turned and stared at his master, his eyes wide in terror. Amelia tilted her head to the left, giving the innocent look she usually gave to Durbe and Mizael.
Whatever was going on, it was freaking Frost out. And she could tell.
Without any warning, Frost grabbed Amelia again. He howled and screeched, then leaped into the air and flapped his wings very quickly to save time. Although, it ended up being a bumpy ride for Amelia. She screamed in shock and grabbed onto Frost's tail, attempting to keep herself from falling from his now very loose grasp.
Thankfully, she managed to save herself.
Once again, Frost came crashing down to the ground like a comet. He howled and began to rush away, not bothering to set Amelia on top of him or slow down. The ice dragon continued at top speed through the forest, dodging branches and flying over rifts or fallen trees. Only when they got to a clearing did they stop, rushing into a horrid scene.
"O-Oh my g-g-g-god, no," Amelia stammered as Frost set her down. She took a few steps forward, falling to her knees again and covering her mouth with her hands as tears began to stream down her cheeks. The scene they had rushed into was absolutely devastating.
Durbe and Mach lay there, totally still and covered in blood.
"Durbe! Mach!" Amelia screamed. She got up long enough to rush to the knight's side, but fell down next to him as soon as she got there. The brunette put her hands on Durbe's still chest, then lay down on top of him. She caressed his cheek, not caring if she got blood from his wounds on herself. "Wake up. Please, wake up. Show me this is just a joke. Please..."
Nothing. Not even a twitch.
Frost walked over, slowly and cautiously, watching as his master sat up. Her sky-blue eyes were spewing tears, and she was sniffling like crazy. She was sure she'd seen Spitz Spitz Flame's body somewhere in the forest when they raced over. But since she hadn't been able to identify, she'd thought nothing of it. Besides, she was busy mourning over the loss of her husband.
"Durbe... Durbe-sama, I'm so sorry," Amelia whimpered. She was still on top of him when Frost walked closer to them, nuzzling Amelia's side. The brunette looked up, then sniffled when her dragon lay his head on top of her body. Frost let out a whimper of his own, fully laying down.
Amelia sniffled and sat up, gently pushing Frost off of herself before she stood. The girl began to walk away, Frost bounding after her. He knew what she was doing. If he were her, he'd be walking away to attempt to clear his mind too.
They passed through the forest rather slowly. Amelia was looking around at the bodies of the other knights. With every one she saw, she thought of Durbe. Tears began to stream down her cheeks again as she hung her head. Everything here was forcing her to remember him. No matter what she did, she couldn't get the knight out of her head.
But of everything, she didn't see one thing; Vector.
She didn't have time to see him. Amelia cried out as the sword went through her, and right before she collapsed, she turned and saw the crazy prince. Frost, out of fear, howled and raced away. He instantly regretted it when he heard his master scream in pain, but he couldn't force himself to go back. His body wasn't allowing him to turn back.
Amelia seemed to understand. She glanced back at Vector, her eyes shaking with fear and pain. "H-How could y-y-you?" she stuttered out before falling to the ground herself.
Vector simply cackled. "Stupid girl. Did you forget what I told you and Mizael? You would both pay for that. And you both did."
Darkness was beginning to circle Amelia's field of vision. She was suddenly feeling cold, unable to stay up when she tried. The brunette gasped, then simply fell over. Her eyes blinked one or two more times, and then, they simply closed. Vector smirked.
Amelia was finally dead.
The horrid, familiar smell of blood had at last made its way to Frost's nose. He looked up, eyes wide in shock, and roared in fear. Without wasting one more second, he began charging back. The ice dragon jumped very high into the air and spread his wings, wasting no time in becoming airborne as he soared back towards Amelia's direction.
But he knew he was too late. Amelia was dead. From the air, Frost could see as Vector smirked. He loomed over Amelia's lifeless body, not taking the sword he'd thrust into her out of her bloodied side. His violet eyes twitched over towards a sound that was rapidly coming towards him.
The ice dragon. He bounded over to where the bodies lay. Smelled them, licked some of them. Vector remembered correctly that this dragon had recently been named Frost by Amelia.
"Ah, Frost. How surprising you come back here. I sense you realized something was wrong, yes?" Vector stared right at the dragon. Frost's icy-blue eyes gazed into his violet ones as the dragon howled in rage.
Vector however, simply laughed.
"You cannot do a thing about it. Poor thing, if you'd been here moments ago, you may have been able to do something useful. Alas, since you fled like a coward, you failed."
Frost lifted his head and roared. He was angered. The dragon gently lifted Amelia's body and walked away with it. Vector thought it was strange behavior for a dragon, so he followed. When he saw Frost lay the girl down where he did, he understood completely and smirked.
"I see. You put the two love birds together. Interesting."
Frost snorted and placed his clawed paw on Amelia's chest. He had a bond with her, and knew that she and Durbe would've wanted to be together the entire time, even through he also had a secret ability he'd kept hidden from Amelia. The large ice dragon scooted them closer together, finally becoming satisfied with the way they were put together.
Vector went wide-eyed when a glow emitted from Frost's paw. He didn't want to believe this dragon had the special ability of Soul Swap, a special ability awarded to a very limited amount of dragons that allowed them to switch someone's soul with another from the future.
"No! No no no! You shouldn't have that ability! No dragon has for years!" Vector raced up with a totally different sword and tried to stab Frost. He flicked his tail and knocked the prince away, then turned back to Amelia. He seemed to be smiling as he focused, using his special ability to search through the future and find what he called a worthy Swapper.
Frost roared when he did.
The light grew brighter. Vector yelled and shielded his eyes. When he opened them, he could tell something had changed.
It was true. Frost had the ability to swap souls with two people, one from the future and one from the present. And he'd just swapped Amelia's soul with another person's.
That meant she had another chance to live.
Vector snarled. "I will have another opportunity to kill her for good. You'll see, this will have all been done for nothing." He lifted his sword, then thrust it into himself.
Frost just stared around. Everyone was dead now. Even him. The dragon had used the last ounce of energy he had to complete that.
He toppled over, dead from lack of help to his health.