The volley had caught her off guard, but not again. Time, the ever silent guardian of life, was now against her as the Moon Child backed her closer and closer to its destination. Through each dash, glide and brunt attack they swept together, some sick twisted fantasy turned real life. A darkened piece of poetry turned to motion.

Each time the true demon would lash out against her, she who was considered a devil would return again with another strike. The battle was wearing on into the hour, most of the time with Rose on her defense. The dragoon's armor, now well past its limits, was tearing apart at the near perfect seams.

But Martus raged on, enhanced by the power of a demi-god at his fingertips. The mock light that shone from his presence seemed only to sear at Rose even further as she fought with growing desperation. Martus could sense it too, if he had been himself. He would have seen the woman before him fighting for not only her life, but the lives of every living thing on the planet. If only her dragon was there to help, she thought...perhaps things wouldn't have gotten this bad.

'Michael...where are you when I need you?' Rose silently prayed, hoping he would answer.

But she was at her limit, feeling the power fading as her wings began to flutter and flicker out of existence. With a glancing blow from the demon's fist, she was brought crashing to the ground. But stay down she wouldn't. This monster had to die yet again...and again and again...

Seeing an opportunity to bring the dragoon of darkness to her knees, the Moon Child decided to ploy out her feelings.

"So...tell me Rose...how is Michael? Faring well?" He shot at her.

The words glanced through her like acid. If killing her wasn't enough, he now had to use taunts to get what he wanted...

"You..." She sputtered through half a mouthful of blood. "You bastard...how...did you know...about Michael?"

The monster laughed, a loud racious sound devoid of soul.

"Can you honestly believe, that being the son of the great creator...Soa..., that mother wouldn't tell me of everything that has happened? All of the chances I missed to fulfill her will? Oh yes, the eventual demise of the pet of Rose is one of her favorite topics, when she isn't ridiculing me for my failures...but that's not the best part."

"What do you mean, demon?" Rose asked. A twisted grin spread across his lips.

"What I like about this tale is that according to Mother, He will die by your hands."

She could not believe her ears.

"NO!" She defied. "I WON'T BELIEVE IT!"

"Oh Yes...dearest woman. And when that comes to pass, your precious little pet will be a slave in my mother's court. She thinks it such a waste to let a dragon go to hell." He yawned, then spat on her. "If it were me, no beast would be sullying my chambers with its useless presence...Ah...but there's another glorious part of my reign." He spoke up when yet another glimmer of disbelief crossed Rose's face.

"Yes, tis one of the quirks of being a god. You get to decide what happens when things die. Such a boring task if you ask me. They should all be lost to what those silver-haired whelps-in-slavers-clothing winglies called Mayfil." He continued. "Then again, there are other things I do so enjoy about being me."

Rose could only wonder what was left for him to point out.

"This little talk of family reminded me of a few special flesh-wastes...particulalry ones in your interest..."

The armor finally fell as she sank to the ground, most of the energy gone from her body. Life giving liquid flowed freely from various cuts and abrasions, gashes and wounds. It wouldn't be long now.

"I heard that after you were presumed dead that your mother went and did some horrid things. She couldn't live without her husband and daughter...so where else was left to go? And what of your dear sister? Hmm hmm hmmm...too bad about that one..." He chuckled.

Rose hadn't the strength left to utter any words of threat...anything that would mean she could possibly have a hope of living to see another day. The beast's words were becoming vague, little clouds passing over her near inactive self.

"Selling herself into intercourse? Now that is truly disgusting. After the first three men were done with her, she wasn't even pretty enough to sell again. No less for your mother as well...that poor depraived whore went down the same road that your sister did. And now, as punishment in your stead..."

He paused and leaned in close to her.

"They are with us...just as your poor, pathetic, can't do anything dragon will be one day."

Soa only knew what was rising now. And where it came from, even the earthly woman herself could not know. Something...perhaps sparked by the last miniscule torturing statement passed on by the beast, had struck up a fire inside Rose. One battered eye fluttered open to see the demon basically walking away from her towards the Divine Tree and the Moon That Never Sets.

"Farewell...Black Mistress. May your death be...unpleasantly agonizing." He waved at her body, not knowing himself what was going on behind him. The battle, in his mind was won. The woman was defeated. Though a good fight was fought, he prevailed. And it was that pompous attitude that would be his undoing yet again.

The eye that had opened was now rapidly shutting and opening again. With one final blink, it completely shrouded over in a blackness darker than the deepest, darkest hell that the winglies could have ever thought of. The other snapped open, also opal as the first. The small fire that had been burning merely seconds ago had flashed over into a full roaming, completely evolved fire storm of hatred and disgust. At that moment, every dark moment of Rose's life flashed before her eyes.

The day the winglies came...

The day of separation from her parents...

The first week of slave ettiquette...

Her favorite doll rended to shreds before her eyes by her master's pet wyvern...

Every hour of torture brought on by that madman of a slaver...

The death of the Darkness Dragon...

The first attack on a wingly city...

The loss of Syuviel and Damia at Mayfil...

Having Shirely, Belzac and Kanzas lost in Kadessa...

Zieg...

As the Moon Child reached the base of the Divine Tree, he could taste his final, glorious victory at hand. Letting an arm out to either side, he levitated up the trunk towards the upper branches. For a moment, he held and turned to look out at the spot where he left Rose. The human inside had been strong enough to take one last glance.

In his horror though, he spotted something.

A black dome, energy streaking across it like lightning, was growing around where he last saw the dragoon collapse. A terrifying roar, even to a demi-god, tore from the dome of power as it became a column of blackness that ripped through the sky, the clouds above swirling into a vortex of chaos. Multiple funnels dropped from the heavens, sucking up the dust and grit from the dry, cracked ground.

Round after deafening round of thunder pealed immediately after their lightning counterparts as the winds kicked up into a gale force wall of destruction. The Divine Tree itself began to shake at the roots, threatening to wrench itself from the ground and return to its slumber beneath the surface.

As the finale to the horror scene, the pillar of dark magic recessed, rushing over the ground like sheets on a child's bed. With a crash never before heard on Endiness, that echoed even to the city of Kazas, a massive crater opened up in the ground. When the winds gave up their onslaught, the beast in Martus' body dared to look at the hole.

In the center, wrapped in a blanket of rolling black fire, stood a mad, raving creature. Where the wings once were, laid nothing but airy wisps of magic, much like the winglies wings. The hair that hung around the woman's body now flew wildly all over the place. The normal claws of the monster had been replaced by talons that looked like that of Michael's great feet, the monstrosity's legs and such being completely shrouded in darkness.

The beast cracked its neck and glowered directly at the Moon Child. Martus just cackled insanely.

"So THIS is The TRUE Black Monster! How Extraordinary! Such Power!" He seemed elated. Perhaps not knowing that in waiting for this challenge, he had sealed his own fate?

But this new form...this Black Demon...had no remnant of its former self what so ever. If anything in Rose could have stopped it before, there would be no chance in saving anyone now.

Rose could finally be who she was, after the true demon showed up and trapped her in a little corner in her mind. She had it all to herself. And she cried...like never before. All of the failures and past happenings. The newest failure to protect Martus from such a fate. Everyone gone...and the demon fed off of it, provoked such thoughts, for as long as Rose was left in despair, it would reign.

The demon took off at unimaginable speed, faster than what the human eye could see. But its departure was not to be left without a tremendous explosion of force in its wake. The crater grew twenty feet deeper as a sonic-boom followed its creator out of the hole. If anyone had been around to see it, the only other description would have been other-worldly workings.

The rush of the demon brought the Moon Child back to reality as he saw his opponent racing up to meet him. With barely enough time to react, he dove out of the way to avoid the black meteor being thrust at his body. Little cover was provided by the now thinning out branches, and with no place to hide, he prepared himself for the fight of his immortal life.

But the monster was in no mood to play hide and seek. It began blasting everything with the black flame, torrential fire pulsed across the roots and branches in an attempt to flush out the quarry. It wasn't long before the burning wave crossed the victim, searing his skin like never before. For once, the demi-god felt true pain.

"You bitch!" He cried in agony while dousing his arms of fire. But yet more volleys of the wall of pain were sent at him, coursing through the empty space like guided missiles. He was immediately caught full ablaze this time, sent plummeting to the ground. The instant he hit, the monster drove into him, claws alight with the black flame as they tore through the vessel that carried the true demon.

With barely enough time to push her off of him, the Moon Child fled, rocketing at unimaginable speeds towards his haven at the center of the height of the Divine Tree. A sudden jerk in his flight caught him by suprise as he was once again hurtling to the ground. And this time, there was no getting up. The Black Demon produced the spirit sabre and slammed it through him, pinning him to the ground. In his last moments, all he could see was the darkness encompassing his vessel as he slowly began his migration back to the heavens.

With the demon gone from Martus' body, the black monster regained herself, but with not an ounce of strength left to move. She collapsed to her knees as the roots of the Divine Tree pulled from the ground once again and it sank back beneath the crust of the earth.

From the distance, a small form slowly made its way across the great dry land, slowly taking shape as that of Michael. With a distraught cry, he landed next to Rose, nudging her limp form with the tip from one of his nasal crests.

"Michael...my baby..." Rose breathed out lightly, remembering the Moon Child's words. "Better late than never I guess." She spoke, fading into unconsciousness as the dragon gently gripped her in one of his large hind claws before taking off towards the island cave and the awaiting aquatic dragon.