It took no longer than moments to gather everything in the world that Rose owned, simply her sword and her dragoon spirit, her armored clothing and information papers. Everything that was stashed inside the hole underneath a rock outside of the city. With another quick burst of speed, she had left the outer limits of the city, grasslands spread before her as she headed north, forgetting about the wild fires that still burned from the ancient war.
Even now, 2484 years later, the fires from the Dragon Campaign still burned across what used to be the most beautiful natural structure in Tiberoa. What used to be a lush forest would soon be nothing but barren crags and ashen mountains, rills and valleys of rock. Human alone could stand the heat given off by the fires, so long as they took the path that had finally stopped burning a few hundred years ago. It led to an intersection of passageways, one leading off towards Donau, and one leading into the once beautiful Valley Gigantoss, now distorted by ruptured gravity fields.
As Rose came upon the burning lands, the distortion of gravity from the nearby valley became apparent, some of it's effects spilling into this land even with the valley more than twenty miles away. Hair folicles that blew with the slightest breeze were now floating without warrant, without a breeze, seemingly of thier own power. Of course, the woman knew better, the backwash from the overly large battle that was fought in the valley had caused the magical forces to become trapped there, intermingling and destroying seventy percent of the gravitational field. Even from this distance, the floating mounds of earth, some large enough to stand on, some large enough to build a mansion on, could be seen levitating with the use of unearthly power.
It took merely seconds upon coming to the barren lands for Rose's smell to pick up the heavy scent of smoke. Only a short five miles all around except from the west, heavy smoke rose throughout the skyline, covering the once marvelous forest, smoldering ashes still crunching underfoot as her shoes kept moving over them. Within minutes though, her street shoes had begun to smoke, making for a really hot foot. Although soon her shoes would burn through, there wasn't exactly a place to sit down and change, everything was still burning hot.
How had Martus even bought her story of coming down from the northlands seven years ago? The forest had been burning ever since the end of the campaign and the only way around was to pass over it, or to retreat through Valley Gigantoss, and niether was plausible. To pass overhead would mean to find a balloon big enough, and to pass through the valley was to chance being swept up into the sky or to be crushed to the ground, maybe never making it out due to unforseen gravitational changes and circumstances.
Even as Rose tried to tread lightly on the black coals that smoked her feet through the soles of her shoes, she knew there was only one way to go, now that people would be on the lookout for her. And to the dismay of the woman, it wasn't towards Donau. Her only refuge lay in the outskirts of the valley with corrupted gravity.
Two days journey brought her no news of anyone following her, afterall, it was considered suicide to go anywhere near Valley Gigantoss now that it was a wreck. At seven miles away, not just the hair upon her head floated freely, but also, the clothing on her body too soon began to take flight, even though with somebody in them, they wouldn't go far. At least here close to the valley, the ground had cooled off enough for Rose to sit down and change into her purple outfit, the armored clothing that was her fashion statement and her way of dressing. The previous day had found her shoes fried to the insoles, to the point where it became neccessary to transform into the dragoon armor, flying to a safe spot. Though it left her thorougly drained, at least the fires had stopped burning here already. With a safe place to rest, the night passed and the journey continued into the current day.
The instability of the ground she walked on made the woman wary of flying rocks. Any wrong hit to the already warped ground could send her tumbling into the sky for eternity. Even with the dulling out of the magic from the campaign, the rocks and debris still flew around like magic-propelled arrows, zooming by at alarming rates so that you'd have to duck and the minute you stood back up, a back-flip would be the only thing that'd save your head.
And that's almost what it took, not even 5 miles outside of the valley. One of the rather large sized chunks of earth had come hurtling at Rose at an amazing speed, straining from larger rock catching a patch of super-high density downward gravity pull, to where it smashed off of a floating land mass, shattering it into pieces, including the one that almost hit Rose. Though, with trained accuracy and skill from flying after many a moon children, she was able to counter it and duck out of the way in time to miss another large fragment.
With all this ducking and dodging, you'd think she was back in the campaign again.
[Magic was hurtling everywhere. It took all the flying in the world just to keep from getting hit when a Virage was around. Just a single sweep of one of thier mighty hands could send gunfire waves of different elemental magic throughout the battle field.
Such was Belzac and Shirley's fate. Shirley had ducked into a mid-building courtyard to escape a bursting wave of torrential fire was to her misfortune that in its attempt to destroy her, the following Virage took out the pillars that were holding up the courtyard.
And in a streak of golden fury, Belzac was in like a whirlwind, holding up the falling building. What strength he had, to be able to steady the entire weight of that place. Even without the dragoon armor, Belzac was unusually strong for a giganto. He could lift the entire arrow battery of Vellweb without any help whatsoever.
And in this case, his burden was a 4 ton building ontop of his massive arms. He held it for Shirley, the one he loved. Even when the mighty hand of the Virage plunged it's clawed talons through his armor, bursting through the otherside and destroying his dragoon wings, he still held the tower, eyes blind in pain, arms burning.
As Shirley sat up to see her love struggling to give her the chance to escape, a single thought crossed her mind. To be with Belzac eternally.
"BELZAC!" She cried out in suprise. After a moment of silence, she drew her bow, the magic projectile forming between the bowstring and the sight.
"Your death will not be in vain..."
The light gathered at the Virage's seven grisley eyes, signifying it's charged eye laser, was becoming ever brighter, ever growing. And in that second, the bowstring was released, the Virage cried out in pain and ducked back, yanking Belzac with it, though not far enough to escape the tower, and the entire structure fell on the two lovers.
Rose had been witness to it all.]
'I saw them all die...' She thought momentarily, though it barely registered in her head. Too busy was her body at dodging the flying earthen projectiles. But it was all rewarded. In her attempts to stay alive, she had managed to skirt the valley, and pass the flaming forests, making Donau by nightfall by some twisted miracle.
Unfortunately, her miracle had not given her the prospect of a safe passage into the town. The moment she arrived, guards rushed to meet her and whisked the woman away to the mayor's office.
"Well well well, a fugitive from Fletz...tell me how did you manage to get here through the burning lands?" Was his first question. The man stood not even five and one half feet tall. His bald head shone brightly in the chandelier cast light that flooded the cieling.
"Lucky I guess." Rose's return came fast, as they always did.
"I hear you registered a dragon in the books. Did you happen to know that someone else registered the same dragon, with a portrait of someone that looks very much like you?"
"Where is this going man?" She asked.
"We've long suspected that true magic was still alive. And there's but one reason we've come to suspect you." He answered.
"I have seen the new polymer-synthosis magic hanging around, so why do you accuse me so fast?" Rose retorted.
"Not our magic, woman. Magic of the Old Times. Your Magic. I know you can do amazing things. And it's because I know that I've taken the liberty of bringing you here. You see, I'm a collector of sorts. I gather things old and lost, things that haven't made a really big impact on other's lives. But you see again, I have one special little piece that I'd like to show you." The man said, backing up and turning to a cabinet behind him. With a quick turn about, he returned to her, holding a piece of paper, a newspaper to be exact. The date was a very long time ago, yet the parchment seemed to be like new.
But it wasn't the age of the paper, nor the quality of it that caught Rose's attention. What did get her eye was where it was from, and a certain figure in a picture as the main article.
'Strange woman Seen Before A Demon Destroys Kazas, then mysteriously vanishes. Sole surviving girl escapes to Bale and lives to tell the tale.'
The mayor pointed to Rose's picture above the caption.
"This is you, is it not?" He asked.
"No."
"Would you agree that you used magic to get across the burning lands?"
"No, pure physical ability got me through. I was...well trained." Rose stated simply, and true to herself, she had been well trained.
"You ARE an ancient power. Who are you really?" The mayor stated point blank. "How is it you got across the fires if not magic? Surely you possess some kind of...special abilities not seen in this present day to accomplish such a feet. This article proves that you were there when the Black Monster ravaged Kazas. Your picture is plastered all over the front page, and here you are, exact armor, exact hair style and complexion, as if you never aged a day in the two-thousand some years between now and then."
Rose was caught. Here was her picture, the armor she wore not even looking that different than the ink drawing. Her hair had stayed the same, and the sun tanning had no effect on her always milky skin. She really didn't look any older, but that was due to the choker.
"You are...?" He asked once again.
"None of your business. Now if you'd kindly let me go, I have work to attend to." Sarcasm evident in her tone, Rose made to get up, but was harshly pushed back down into the chair by one of the mayor's guards.
"You're not going anywhere until we get some answers." The mayor said firmly.
But once again, things would work in Rose's favor.
Once again, the scream of terror she often heard was carried throughout the mid-summer's night. The scream she hunted for. The one that told her time would set itself again into horror as the Moon Child was brought forth from the darkness once again, the moon turning its crimson warning signal. She began to laugh inside as the mayor and his guards ran outside, completely forgetting about thier captive.
For once, someone had come very close to figuring out who Rose really was. So close infact, that she'd actually been worried. And with her chance to escape from the questions that so closely intruded upon her mission, sitting in the chair, Rose let the darkness take over her.
The flames began to grow in the chair as they shot up around her head, enveloping her in the transmigration between her normal self and the body that belonged to the Black Monster. In mere seconds, she sat there, fully changed. As the mayor came walking back in, not even noticing the flames right away, he turned and locked his door out of bad habit, sealing his fate.
"Now then..." He said as he turned around, only to find the face of a nightmare, leaning sarcastically on the demon's arm, as it smirked silently behind its viel of flames. With a little wave of the gnarled fingers upon its other hand, the monster stood from the chair, which by now had caught fire from the Black Flame.
"You...you're the...you're...but you can't...the Black Monster?" He fumbled over his words. It was all he had time to do before the beast had torn at his neck with its claws, pulsing a round of the Black Flame into the room and causing an instant flash over effect, setting everything on fire. As the Black Monster opened the door to go outside, a backdraft of the flames pulsed and exploded out the door behind it, making its exit from the building look like an ascention from the depths of hell.
"Dear Soa! It's The Black Monster!" Someone cried. But the guards that were the mayors needed no warning. They were already in full retreat, running like cowards before the face of true fear. They had already abandoned thier post at the bottom of the stairs the moment the beast burst down the door. Stretching its wings and taking off into the sky, the demon retrieved its spirit sword, holding it up into the air.
The ground below it began to mist over, and in a great flash of light, all the people caught up in the clouds froze up, thier muscles constrained by magic.
With a devilish roar, the inhuman monster stole a glance at the Moon that Never Sets, the bright ruby glow burning like a wildfire of her own torment. It was time to begin business as per usual.
With a quick downswipe of the sword, every person that was frozen in place was seemingly shattered like glass, the after effects of the Death Dimension, a portal to another world that destroyed physical reality like nothing in the world could. The entire area that had been engulfed by the mist had been leveled to nothing but ground, including the mayor's office. With that taken care of, the harbor at Illisa bay needed her attention.
And mere tiny bits of the Black Flame were enough to set the still half asleep town into pure chaos. The night passed and the destruction continued. And upon morning's dawn, not a single person remained alive in Donau.
Somewhere during the course of the evening, the Black Burst Dragon himself had arrived, as if sensing his master's predicament. The young dragon always seemed to know when trouble was about for her and even though she couldn't call out to him directly...he seemed to answer sometimes just to a simple prayer from Rose for his appearance. Thankfully, once the destruction had ceased...the faithful winged guardian grounded himself to Rose. After she had climbed atop his thick neck, bracing against that violent orange fin upon his back, the dragon took off into the night sky.
Far off in the distance, on the small tropical island close to where Rose had once lived, they took shelter. This was once the home of the Blue Sea dragon, until brave little Damia had slain it. And, as with the Darkness Dragon, Rose's suspicions were correct about the vassal dragon being left behind. Further exploration of the small island proved that a young sea dragon lived there. Deep inside one of the caves, the pair discovered her playing carefree in the waters that permeated the island's interior caverns.
When Rose came across the little one, she showed much sympathy. The dragonette was about as old as Michael was, though much different. She was much to be seen, as her total body length had already grown to an enormous size. With a quick flash of her dragoon spirit, the dragon dipped her head submissively, bowing down to Rose quickly.
"Don't be afraid of us little one. We're here to look after you now." She said reassuringly, though in her mind, no intention had actually been there to say such a thing. It had just come to her naturally.
As the dragon crept ever closer, it became apparent that she didn't possess a set of land legs. So, to compensate for this, Rose slept near the ground with the dragon's head right behind her, whilst Michael took to a higher shelf in the cavern where the aquatic one dwelt. She took solace in the presence of familiar beings. Ones that knew compassion, and would most likely live to be quite old. But for the present, her duty as of the next day would be to hunt down her quarry. Whomever it would be...