The Gods Of Convexity Page 37
A/N: My oh my that took a while. Sorry college is quiet distracting, not to mention I lost this a fourth of the way through because my laptop crashed while I was working on it. Hopefully you will all think it was worth the wait though, if nothing else there is a lot to read, its about triple the size of a normal chapter. Anywho enjoy!
"Where is he?" The dragon asked angrily his temper beginning to get the best of him.
"We don't know. I've told you that." Spyro said to the irritated looking guard who simply sighed in response.
"Well then when was the last time that you did see him?" The dragon asked hoping for some sort of helpful answer.
"I last saw Taelas this morning he has been resting, or have you forgotten that he was damn near mortally wounded." Spyro said trying and failing to hide his anger.
"I have not forgotten." The guard replied timidly, the violet dragon's voice striking a small bit of fear into him.
"Then you should believe me when I tell you that I do not know where he went. It isn't like he could simply get up on his own and leave."
"You saw that your daughter is missing as well." The guard argued. "Perhaps she took Taelas with her."
"Perhaps, I would not know, I cannot read Aria's mind." Spyro said sarcastically. When the guard gave him an angered stare Spyro continued to speak. "You have already searched my home, what more do you want?"
"Why are you even doing this, Taelas has done nothing wrong." Cynder said stepping into the conversation unexpectedly.
"He has committed murder, which is far more than nothing." The guard answered.
"It is impossible Ridan's wounds were too large to be made by Taelas, someone is framing him." Cynder said trying to reason with the guard, although she sounded more desperate than anything.
"Find me proof of that and I will believe you, until then hold your deceitful tongue." The guard replied hotly.
"Get out." Spyro growled, grabbing the dragon's attention and that of the two who were standing behind him.
"What?"
"I said get out! I'll not have you talk to my mate that way."
"The investigation is not finished." The guard said, although his argument felt weak as Spyro's imposing figure stood over him.
"We have told you what we know you have no further need to be here." Spyro said snorting fire from his nostrils.
The guard was backing away as he spoke once more. "You realize that if you are doing anything to hide or protect him then you will also be guilty."
Ignoring the claim Spyro moved forward pushing the dragons back towards the front door. "You are mere seconds from death" The purple dragon said flashing his sharp fangs. "If you have any amount of intelligence you will leave before I send you out of here in pieces."
The guards left the house without words after that, having no desire to go up against a mighty purple dragon, especially not one of Spyro's stature. Once he was gone Spyro felt Cynder lean onto his side as his anger melted away. The black dragoness was near tears, not unexpected as both of her children had disappeared leaving no clues as to where or why.
"Do you think that they will be okay?" Cynder asked.
"I would think so, our children our capable." Spyro answered nodding his head.
"Why would they leave though, what is the point?"
"I am sure that they had their reasons. Taelas has been involved in a lot of things lately, maybe it has something to do with that. It isn't completely unlikely, remember when we had adventures like that?" Spyro asked.
"I don't want Taelas to have those adventures, they nearly got us killed, I just want him to be safe." Cynder answered digging her head into Spyro's side.
"I know you do Cynder, I want him to be safe too, but unfortunately purple dragons are often thrust into the thick of things. We should simply hope for the best I know he will be fine. If however, they are not back soon, I will go looking for them." Spyro said hoping to put the dragoness' mind to rest.
Lyara coughed roughly as she fell to the ground feeling her body beginning to fail her. The dragoness held herself up with her forelimbs as she continued to cough until she eventually fell into the grass her pain slowly subsiding. It was only seconds later that she noticed a paw on her side, turning her head slowly she saw Taelas standing there, his sister next to him.
"Are you alright?" He asked concern obvious in his voice.
"I…I think so. I just feel ill." The silver dragoness replied as she began to stand back up her legs shaking and threatening not to support her.
"You're telling me." Taelas said helping her up, as he felt his own bones ache.
"We aren't far enough away from Warfang to stop now." Aria chimed in as she watched the two with curious eyes.
"Where would you suggest we go?" Ivarik asked coming up next to them, Syra at his side.
"Anywhere besides Warfang." Taelas responded.
"Specifically?" Ivarik asked.
All of the dragons were silent for a long time. Leaving Warfang was only the beginning. They still needed a plan of some sort some place to go, and to make their next move, whatever it may be.
"Salence." Lyara said suddenly breaking the silence.
"My father says that Salence is across the continent." Aria pointed out.
"And that the wilds around the place are dangerous. What would we have to gain from going there?" Syra asked.
"Nothing for you only for me." Lyara stated.
"What does that mean?" Taelas asked.
Lyara stared at the dragon intently, making the purple dragon more than a little nervous. "I remember now. Salence is where it all started."
"What do you mean?" Taelas asked.
"I mean that Salence is where everything began, I can explain but as you said we need to leave Warfang now."
"Alright then we will discuss this later." Aria said. "It's best that we leave now and get some distance between us and the city before morning."
"Head for Salence then." Lyara said raising a paw and pointing a talon past the other dragons. "It is that way, to the northeast."
"Alright, but perhaps we should walk for now, until you gain a bit of strength." Taelas said watching as the silver dragoness waved her wings feebly trying to lift herself from the ground.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"Positive. Let's go, Ivarik you take the lead keep your eyes open, I doubt anything will attack, but it has been known for creatures to appear in these forests." Taelas said, getting a simple nod from Ivarik.
"Come on, I'll keep you company." Aria said trotting forward until she was by the dragon's side.
"I'll trail behind and make sure no one sneaks up on us." Syra said heading back behind the two.
"Thanks, just yell if you see anything, and don't get too far behind." Taelas answered smiling, to show his gratitude. That left only Lyara and Taelas in the middle by themselves, the others far enough away that their conversation would be private.
"Your friends are very organized." Lyara said looking to all of the dragons as they moved out.
"We try." Taelas said. "But I would like to hear more about Sol and Arum. What do you think their next move will be?"
Lyara looked at the dragon with sad eyes. "Taelas I told you I lost my memory."
"But you are gaining it back, you said it yourself." The violet dragon argued.
"Only some, Salence is one of the few things that I remember now, and I can't even be sure if that is correct. My memories are coming back in fragments, not even in chronological order."
"It's okay we can piece it all together, just give it time." Taelas said trying to console her.
"I just, don't know. Since I was created I have always known to some extent what needs to be done and now…"
"Now, you just can't figure things out. It's alright Lyara. We can get through this together, the burden isn't only on you, we are here to help out." Taelas said, only getting a meek nod in response. After a long silence Taelas asked his question. "Can you tell me why is that place so important, Salence I mean?"
"It is where the key to my power lies." Lyara said rather ominously.
"What do you mean?" Taelas asked.
"You've probably noticed that I am a lot weaker than when we first encountered. When Sol and Arum took my memories they were actually trying to destroy me. Fortunately their strength was not enough, and instead I was simply hurt and not killed."
"Okay so what does that have to do with Salence and your power?" Taelas questioned still not understanding what the dragoness was talking about.
"When they attacked they took something away from me that was vital to my existence." Lyara said trying to explain as best she could without going too far into detail.
"I still don't get it?" Taelas asked raising a brow. "What exactly did they do to you during your fight?"
"All things in good time, what you need to know now is that the key to finding my power once more is in Salence." Lyara said. "We need to go there as soon as we can."
"I want to know what you remember about this, Salence." Taelas said.
"What? Why?" The dragoness said suddenly nervous.
"Do you have something to hide?" Taelas asked picking up on her sudden emotion.
The silver dragoness walked in silence for a few moments her mouth gaping open as she fumbled for a response. "I…I just-
"You can tell all of us tonight once we stop moving, it's important that we all know what is happening, instead of going in blind." Taelas said his tone making the decision final.
Lyara nodded solemnly, she could not argue with the sound logic. In truth she was being silly anyway, she could afford to tell the story if it would help them all.
It was some time later that the dragons finally settled down for the night. They had trekked at least three miles on the ground before they stopped to rest. Launching into the air for a few seconds and gaining some altitude Taelas looked around in the night sky, trying to determine where they were exactly. After moving for so long on the ground in the forests he had lost track of where they were exactly.
"Alright, everyone." Taelas said grabbing the others attention. "Lyara has a little something that she wants to tell us."
"I want to tell you?" The dragoness questioned raising a brow.
"Yes, you want to tell us because we are your good friends." Taelas said sarcastically.
"What is it about?" Syra asked lying down.
The silver dragoness laid herself down slowly on the soft grass, and gave a sigh. "I haven't been entirely honest with you all."
"I could have told you that." Ivarik said as he too sat down on the grass.
Lyara gave him a short glare, but it was a weak one. "I have been here before this time. I lived a life among dragons as one of you as I am now."
"Alright, so what does this have to do with now?" Aria asked.
"Some of the things that I did back then are having repercussions now." Lyara explained. "When I came to this world all of those years ago I came to Salence, what happened there was…tragic."
"Why don't you start from the beginning then." Aria said sitting down as well.
Lyara took another deep breathe before continuing. "Alright, it all started many years ago."
Lyara stood in a large temple. The dull stone structures were grand, but without much flair. The hanging buttresses, columns, and chiseled cobblestone seemed to lose its grandeur, especially with her in the room. Her silver scales shown brilliantly even in the pale light. Through the windows she could see the twisting nexus energies of convexity, the purple hues bouncing lazily through the outer darkness of the realm. All of that though was far from Lyara's mind, inside the large stone structure; she stood as still as a statue, occupied by a large pool of still water. The enchanted surface was glazed with images from another world, the prime plane, a place that was not hers to watch over, but one that intrigued her more than anything else.
Hearing noise behind her the dragoness' concentration was broken as she watched the image in the water fizzle, and break slightly before reappearing as she regained control.
"Are you looking into that pool again?" She heard a soft voice from behind as she continued to stare, the image wavering slightly once more.
"Maybe we should take that thing away from her?" A similar voice yet deeper voice said.
"Don't be mean Arum." The other dragon responded, and Lyara could hear him rap the black dragon on the side.
"I'm thinking in a more forward direction." Arum said as he tried to sound crafty.
"You know that I can hear both of you right?" Lyara asked turning around to face the two the image completely fading from the water.
"We know we just don't ca-
"We are concerned." Sol said interrupting his brother.
"Concerned about what, I'm watching the dragons in their world." Lyara explained. "We are gods it is our job to watch over lesser beings."
"Of our own realm." Sol clarified.
"Nothing intelligent resides in this realm Sol. Nothing but dirt, dust, and rocks, and beasts."
"And us." Arum said.
"Great we are the gods of nothing then." Lyara said solemnly.
"You know better than that Lyara, this place, while it has no inhabitants it holds great power, power that others would harness and misuse. We are here to prevent that from happening."
"Well maybe I don't want to prevent it, maybe I just want to live a normal life, and be like…" The dragoness trailed off as if she was afraid to say the final word.
"What, like a mortal?" Arum asked spitting the last word with disgust. "Why would you want to be them, of all things, they are fragile, deceitful, and evil little creatures, doing whatever they can to gain power."
"That's not true and you know it." Lyara argued weakly.
"Fine then prove me wrong, show me that the mortals are worth caring about."
"A pleasure." Lyara said before turning away from the two as she started to mumble words that even the other two didn't recognize. That alone sent a shiver down both of their spines. Lyara had been endowed with more power and knowledge than both of them for the purpose of keeping them in check.
"Lyara what are you doing?" Sol asked nervously. The dragoness gave him no response however as energy began to swirl around body pulsating as it rotated. "Don't be crazy think about this!" The god pleaded.
"Come on Sol, you can't stop her that way." Arum said jumping forward towards the dragoness.
Lyara, eyes still closed, stepped to the side and made a curt spin in the air, slamming her tail into Arum, knocking him to the ground. All the while she continued to mutter phrases the energy around her now swirling and humming, as if begging to be released.
Sol and Arum watched the dragoness in fearful anticipation as she turned to a nearby wall, and in a sudden crescendo said the last words to the spell, whatever it was. In response the energy around her body flew past her in a pulse hitting the nearby stone wall. Upon contact the purplish beam flattened out into a pan shape making a hole in the wall blackness covering the inside.
"What did you think that I was doing?" The dragoness asked with a laugh as she walked over to the portal.
"Lyara what is that? What did you do?" Arum asked as he scrambled to get up.
"It's a portal, what else would it be." The dragoness replied nonchalantly.
"A portal to where exactly?" Sol asked.
"To the prime plane silly." Lyara said as if everything that had happened was one big joke.
"The prime plan but you can't go there." Sol argued.
"I can do what I want to do. You were the ones who told me to prove you wrong." Lyara said with a small smile. "Just stay here, I'll come back." She said walking towards the portal. Mere inches from its surface she turned back around to face them both. "And don't cause any trouble; I'll know if you do something."
"Lyara this is idiotic, you should know better, get over here now and close that thing!" Arum growled.
The dragoness chuckled at his attempt. "Make me." She said before hurtling backwards and delving into the portal and out of sight.
"Wait, wait, wait." Aria said interrupting the dragoness.
When the dragoness said nothing further Lyara looked at her with curious eyes. "What?" She asked.
"I'm just trying to get everything straight in my head. Sol and Arum." She said.
"Yes what about them?" Lyara asked.
"The enormous monsters that are supposedly trying to kill everyone, are your brothers?"
"Yes." Lyara stated as if it were a well-known fact.
"Then how did they get…you know, evil."
"That's much further along in the story, so far in fact that I probably won't get to it. This deals with something else entirely." Lyara explained. "Now if there are no other questions…" She said looking to each of the dragons.
"Actually, I would like to say that this story sounds exaggerated. I mean you beat down a god with your eyes closed while casting some spell." Ivarik said.
Lyara stared at the dragon with dull eyes, she needn't give a response to explain what she was thinking. "Are you done now?" She asked staring at the gold dragon.
"Quite." Ivarik responded.
"Anyway, as I was saying I leapt into the portal." Lyara continued.
Lyara tumbled down onto the ground. The dragoness rolled through the soft grass coming to a stop several feet away.
"Not the most graceful landing." She muttered as she dragged herself back up. It was only then that she got the chance to look around. Lyara made a full turn in place as she gazed at her surroundings in wonder. She was standing in a field of grass, the wild brush rolling calmly in the wind. Further in the distance was an ocean or a very large lake, she could not tell. In the other directions past the miles of rolling grass were mountains and forests, a picture of serenity in her eyes.
The dragoness inhaled taking it all in; never before had she stood in such a lively place. The prime plane was already proving to be more pleasant than convexity and she had not even begun to explore its depth. Feeling at ease the dragoness took a few steps through the grass, not knowing where she was going, but also not caring. She had only gone on for several moments before a ripping sound stopped her. The sky above her suddenly tore open and through the hole two recognizable figures tumbled through. Sol and Arum landed on the grass near to Lyara who stood in awe.
"Why did you follow me here?" She asked almost sounding angry, as the two got up.
"We didn't follow you here!" Arum yelled, obviously upset over the situation.
"Arum and I were transported unwillingly." Sol explained in a much more calm tone.
"Well fine then, I guess you are stuck here." Lyara said giving a shrug her emotion dying off as quickly as it had come on.
"No, make a portal, take us back." Arum said, approaching the dragoness.
"What are you going to do Arum? Are you going to fight me, make me take you back to convexity?" Lyara asked pushing the dragon back.
"I…I" The dragon stuttered as he tried to form a retort. He couldn't fight her she was stronger than him, and he couldn't just go back he had no way of making a portal back to convexity.
Lyara backed away letting the black dragon breathe. "It doesn't matter anyway; we are mortals now I can't make a portal."
"What?" Both dragons yelled at the same time.
"You heard me, mortal, now don't bother me, I'm going to find the nearest village." The dragoness said as she turned and walked away.
"You can't just leave us here!" Arum yelled, but Lyara wasn't listening. "I'll kill you!"
Lyara heard Arum sprint forward. The silver dragoness purposely waited until he was right behind her before spinning back and bringing her claws across slapping the dragon swiftly across his face, sending him to the ground.
"I said leave me alone. You're on your own." Lyara hissed, as she made a curt turn, and raised her leathery wings which billowed in the gentle breeze.
"Lyara you cannot just leave us. Think about what you are doing." Sol said, but the words never reached her, the silver dragoness beat her wings and rose into the air.
Lyara left the two far behind as she darted through the warm air. The land began to pass beneath her in a blur as she headed for what she was now assuming to be an ocean, as it was much too large to be a lake. It took her only a few minutes of travel until she saw what appeared to be exactly what she was looking for. A dragon village was down below near to the coast. The village was quaint probably only housing only fifty or so. Nestled into the edge of the forest and near to the rocky cliffs by the ocean the village looked picturesque.
Lyara was so caught up with the sight that as she began to veer towards the village she didn't notice the large rustling in the trees below. Before she could even change paths there was a piercing scream that sent a shiver through her body. The dragoness' head jerked to the side to find a massive scaled creature, with bird like wings rip through the foliage of the nearby forest and cut through the air towards her.
Lyara gasped in surprise and fear as the creature rammed into her trying to grasp her small body in its much larger talons. It succeeded in its attempt although only for a moment. Lyara finally realized what was going on and quickly bit down on the beast's claws forcing it to yelp in pain and release her.
The dragoness fell down and quickly turned her fall into a dive trying her hardest to gain speed as she plummeted towards the earth. Evening out nearly fifty feet from the ground Lyara flew over the ground like a bullet. Nearly two-hundred feet further down the dragoness barred her talons and descended the rest of the way skidding and spinning through the grass to look behind her at the massive creature.
The dragoness' mouth dropped as she saw the scaled creature diving straight for her, apparently it had made her its target and had thrown caution to the wind as it tried to kill her. The creature closed nearly as quickly as Lyara could formulate a plan in her mind.
The silver dragoness dived to the side as the creature smashed into the ground throwing up dirt and chunks of grass. The creature got back up nearly as quickly as it had crashed. It roared in anger as it snapped quickly at Lyara. The creature could swallow her whole in one bite. Lyara pushed off the ground and flapped her wings for extra effect, pushing her body just above the creature's snarling, and drooling maw. She heard the snap of its fangs as she fell back to the ground.
As she fell down the dragoness quickly gathered her energy before shooting a stream of crystals which embedded themselves into the beast's scaly spine. The creature writhed angrily at the pain across its back. Jerking its head side to side the beast smacked Lyara's body, sending her rolling across the grass like a ragdoll.
The dragoness slowly got back up her head spinning from the sudden attack. She knew she had to move quickly before she was attacked again, whatever the winged fiend would do, would probably kill her.
"Get up!" She heard a voice shout right by her, as she felt someone trying to drag her up. Getting her bearings she looked to see a red dragon standing beside her trying to pull her back to all fours. "Get up!" He yelled again giving her another pull.
"Get out of here you'll be killed!" Lyara shouted, shocking the dragon as he was not expecting such a forceful response.
The red dragon couldn't speak a response as they both heard another deafening roar, the beast's maw coming to engulf them. Lyara heard the other dragon telling her to run again, but she was paying him much attention. As the enormous jaw closed in Lyara's eyes flashed to inky onyx orbs, and dark swirling energy pulsed out from her body snapping into a bubble. The massive creature smashed into the shield, and writhed falling to the ground its body crumpling.
Lyara retracted the shield as the scaled fiend got back up.
Behind her she heard the red dragon ask, "What are you?" He was clearly stunned by the sudden display of power.
The creature had been hurt, but was far from dead, and therefore Lyara couldn't listen to the other dragon. She focused her energy again this time in her body. It only took a split second before she opened her wings and darted forward, releasing the energy in her slender frame which shot her forward even faster. Lyara smashed into the creature, hearing bones crack as the beast flew backwards, and fell off over the rocky cliffs screeching as it fell from sight.
Lyara stood very still where she landed her legs wobbly beneath her. She heard the other dragon running up next to her.
"That was amazing!" He shouted. "I've never seen anyone attack a Wyvern and win, it's unheard of!"
Lyara hardly heard him as she looked down to her body seeing strands of wispy silver energy floating away from her scales.
"Are you alright?" The dragon asked seeming to finally notice the strange particles that were drifting around the dragoness. "Hey." He said moving in front of Lyara so that she could see him through blurred eyes. "Can you hear me?" He asked.
Lyara smiled at the dragon, and to him it was a face of perfect calm. "I can hear you." She said sweetly.
"Good, I think that we need to…" The dragon trailed off as he watched Lyara fall to the ground her smile never fading.
"You passed out?" Taelas asked.
"A side effect of using the attack." Lyara explained. "While I lived in convexity none of us ever ran out of energy, but once we came here we lost that advantage. I simply failed to realize this and instead put all move my strength into my attack."
"We don't care about your energy." Aria said, drawing a strange look from the silver dragoness. "What about this red dragon?" She asked with in a suggestive tone.
"What did he look like?" Syra asked catching on to Aria's question.
Lyara blushed slightly at the thought. "He was…nice." She said thinking for a moment before finishing her sentence. "He actually reminds me a little of Taelas." She added, making all of the dragons stare at the purple drake.
"What? I'm nice." He said going along with what Lyara said, and putting the silver dragoness at ease for the moment.
"As I was saying I passed out." Lyara said, bringing sad looks from both Aria and Syra as they wanted to talk more about the topic.
"Hey, wake up." Lyara heard a faint voice say.
The dragoness sat upright in the blink of an eye. Her teeth were bared, as she expected a fight, for reasons that she couldn't even explain.
"Relax." She heard the voice say off to the side. Lyara turned to see the same red dragon from before sitting next to her. The dragoness quickly flipped over and stood up, as if she was embarrassed for showing any weakness.
"What's wrong?" The crimson scaled drake asked peering at her with curious eyes.
"Who are you?" Lyara asked looking around the dimly lit stone room. "Where am I?"
"I told you relax." The dragon said again. "You've been through a lot. My name is Valin, you are in Salence." Lyara stared at the dragon, as if she didn't comprehend what he had said. "Are you alright?" The dragon asked.
"Fine, just…tired." The dragoness sighed. "What happened to me?" She asked slowly laying back down, weariness suddenly setting in.
"You were attacked by a wyvern." Valin explained. "In truth you fought better than anyone I've ever seen. No dragon has faced one down and lived to tell the tale."
"A wyvern?" The dragoness asked, ignoring his praise.
"My parents say that they are dragons who lost their souls, turning into twisted visages of their older selves." Valin said cryptically. "In fact I should thank you. That particular one had been terrorizing this village for a long time now."
"Ya, you're welcome." Lyara said losing interest in the conversation as she looked around the room until she found the door. The dragoness quickly stood up heading straight for the opening.
"Are you sure you are okay, something was happening to you after you killed that creature." Valin said following close behind her.
"What happened to me?" Lyara asked turning full around and staring the dragon down, sending chills down his spine.
"These wispy silver lights starting coming out of you, I've never seen anything like it." Valin said fumbling with the words as he tried to figure out a way to describe the occurrence.
Lyara didn't respond, but what Valin described obviously hit her hard. Lyara turned away again, and headed for the door once more. She heard Valin asking her to wait as she exited the building the bright light hitting her eyes. The dragoness' snapped her wings around to block the light until her eyes adjusted. Blinking away tears Lyara slowly lowered her leathery wings to find an unexpected scene.
"The dragons here are kind of celebrating about what you did earlier." Valin said walking up next to her as she gawked at the town center. Dragons were outside everywhere, all of them eating, drinking, and celebrating. It only took a moment for one of them to notice the silver dragoness standing outside the hut, her sterling silver scales gleamed in the sun making her a spectacle that was hard to miss.
"There she is the one who killed Umbra!" One of the dragons shouted, causing an eruption of cheering from the others. The excessive praise made Lyara blush clearly through her silver scales.
As she was still getting her bearings another dragon an adult approached the dragoness blocking out the sun with his massive form. "Young one, I wanted to greet you personally. My name is Arius. I am the leader of this village. Could I ask your name and where you are from?"
"I'm Lyara; I'm from…far away." The silver dragoness responded bowing slightly.
"A secretive one I see." Arius replied making the dragoness stutter for a reply. "It's alright, you owe me nothing, and quite on the contrary I owe you much. Please help yourself to anything that you like and stay as long as you want, one such as yourself deserves to be treated like a hero."
"Thank you." Lyara said bowing again.
"I'll leave you two alone, I ask though that you don't wander to far from town, there are more wyverns nearby." He said leaving with a short turn and disappearing amongst the others of the party.
"Well, it's your party, what do you want to do?" Valin asked.
Lyara looked at the large crowds for a moment before turning to Valin. "Show me around." She said.
"What? Show you around?" The dragon asked confused.
"My home is very different from this place." Lyara said.
"How much different exactly that you want to walk around instead of seeing the party?"
"More than you could ever imagine." Lyara answered, her response only making the red dragon even more curious.
"You are the guest of honor, so then we can do whatever you want." He said shrugging with a slight smile. "Come on, we'll move to the quieter part of town." He said nodding in a direction that was away from the festivities.
The dragons walked in silence for a short while until they reached another section of the small town, and it occurred to Lyara that they were nearly out of the town by then, and they had only gone around a hundred feet.
"These are the houses." Valin said rather plainly. "I'm not much of a tour guide, sorry."
Lyara was hardly listening though as she looked at the buildings in near amazement. Something like this place was foreign to her; she had only seen these things but never experienced them. Civilization in any form was something of pure wonder to her. The dragons at the party before had also struck her interest but she had kept her emotions suppressed.
"Is there anything else to this place?" She asked after a while as she walked in between the buildings and small shops.
"Well, yes I guess there is, it isn't a building though." Valin said.
"Alright then show me." The dragoness said excitedly bouncing around in front of Valin like a child.
"Alright, alright settle down." The dragon said laughing at Lyara's sudden energy. Without waiting any longer the drake led Lyara a short distance out of town to a place that he knew well. They came to a small lake, only a little bigger than a pond. The water was glassy and still reflecting the beautiful nature that was flourishing nearby. Wide branching trees grew around the lake, forming a shady oasis from the drenching sunlight. There were flowers, tall grasses, and little shrubs thickening up the ground sealing the area off from the other wilderness.
"Valin this place is…" The dragoness trailed off as she stared at the scene in awe. "Amazing."
"It's one of my favorite things about living here." The red dragon said.
"So you come here of- The dragoness cut herself off giving a small yelp as she stumbled over Valin catching her. Lyara leaned on the dragon's side as she regained herself. She could feel her own weakness still encompassing her body.
"Are you alright?" Valin asked staring at the dragoness.
"I…I think so. I just feel…" The dragoness' sentence trailed away as she slowly forced herself back up.
"You just feel?" Valin asked concerned for her well-being.
"Nothing, but Valin what is that?" The dragoness asked quickly changing the subject away from her injuries. She nodded to smoke that was rising lazily along the skyline in the distance.
"Oh. I imagine that is Zeke." Valin said clearly undisturbed by whatever was over there.
"Who is Zeke?" Lyara asked after a moment as she realized that Valin was not going to tell her of his own accord.
"He is," The dragon paused as he tried to think of the correct words. "He is a very old and a lot of a mystery."
"Sounds exciting, let's go!" The silver dragoness said suddenly very chipper her curiosity outweighing her pain.
"What? No we can't go over there, Zeke doesn't like to be bothered, and, and he's strong he'll attack us!" Valin argued.
"Oh come on I'm injured, and you don't see me backing down." The dragoness said chuckling as she walked wobbly towards the distant smoke.
"Lyara." Valin said grabbing the dragoness shoulder and forcing her to stop. "Zeke was an elder, now he is considered a seer. Only the most desperate of people go to him, and most of them never return. Stories say that you could hear dragons screaming in the middle of the night when they went to see him. If any came back alive they were never the same."
"And that scares you?" Lyara asked taking the whole argument lightly.
"Yes, quite frankly it does." Valin said seriously.
"Well, have a sense of adventure then." Lyara said continuing along and forcing Valin to follow after her.
"Lyara-
"No, either come with me or go back." Lyara said finality clear in her voice. Valin cursed as he watched Lyara walking away, and he had to walk with her just to continue talking with her.
"I can't in good conscience let you go alone, I would regret it." The red dragon explained as he caught up.
"So you are coming with me then?" Lyara asked.
"Of course." Valin sighed clearly upset by the situation.
"Well good, now we just have to work on that attitude." Lyara said smiling.
"How can you be taking this so lightly?" Valin asked, the mere mention of Zeke struck fear in everyone in Salence. Lyara however was passing him off as a child's fairy tale.
"Don't forget who strong I am." Lyara argued.
"Lyara you would have to be some sort of god just to stand up to Zeke." Valin said and the irony of the statement made Lyara burst into laughter.
"What?" The crimson dragon asked staring at her as if she was insane.
"Nothing." Lyara said realizing that she would have to explain herself if she continued on in the same manner. "It's just that I'm finding it funny how worried you are." The dragoness paused leaving a gap of silence. "Just leave those feelings behind, we have each other, between the two of us this Zeke won't pose any threat."
Valin nodded and after that there wasn't much conversation as they slowly approached the hut in the distance. As they began to draw closer and closer to the small building Valin spoke up once more.
"Why did you want to come here again?" He asked he voice only a little more than a whisper.
"Because you made it sound so interesting." Lyara replied her eyes still focused on the hut.
"So if I made leaving sound interesting would you leave?" He asked.
"Remember what we discussed." Lyara answered, and Valin merely nodded in defeat.
The two dragons now stood only a few feet from the entrance to the hut, which from a distance had appeared small, but now that they were close they found that it was much larger with enough room for a few adult dragons to live in.
"Why have you come here?" A voice asked from behind them, sending shivers down both of the younger dragon's spines. The two turned in surprise to find a large black dragon standing before them. His appearance alone was intimidating. He was bulky for an adult; his muscles were tense even as he stood at a relaxed position. His eyes were a vibrant violet, and they seemed to shimmer in the waning daylight. The dragon's horns bent and curved at seemingly awkward angles so that the tips of the bones jutted out near to his mouth.
The dragon stared at them as the two didn't move or respond. With a massive gust of wind the dragon spread his wings wide and roared furiously.
"Why have you come here?" He bellowed, his voice carrying across the mountains in the distance.
Valin seemed traumatized by the intimidating dragon; Lyara on the other hand was keeping her emotion hidden.
"You!" Zeke said rearing his head down so that he was inches from Valin, and the red dragon could feel his warm breathe upon his face. "Do you wish death upon yourself?"
"N-n-no" The dragon stammered.
"Then leave, you are in luck that I'm feeling merciful today, perhaps I'll just take a horn, or a wing." Zeke said showing his razor sharp teeth menacingly. "Or maybe a talon, I don't have many of those."
The red dragons scales paled as he stood as still as a statue. "Lyara lets go." He croaked as Zeke's eyes pierced through him. Nearly before he could get the words out the black dragon turned to face Lyara, although he found a much more confident dragoness.
"And you…" Zeke said slowly.
"What of me?" Lyara asked innocently.
"Do you not fear your own demise?" The onyx dragon asked genuinely curious, for every other dragon that he had met had run scared from him.
"I might, but there is no immediate threat to me." Lyara said simply.
"Do you mock me?" Zeke asked pulling back.
"Lyara come on we are going, no more arguments." Valin said pulling as her with a paw. Lyara pushed the dragon's claws away with no more effort than if she were shooing a fly.
"I think that all of this is just a ruse." Lyara said, her smug tone making Zeke's anger grow.
"I could kill you right now." He hissed as he lurched forward grasping the dragoness by the neck and lifting her up. Zeke stared at the squirming silver dragoness for a moment, as if he had entered some sort of trance. Lyara stared back at him as she tried to break free, in a feeble attempt.
"Let her go!" Valin yelled snapping the black dragon from his trance as he spat fire searing Zeke's leg. The black dragon didn't seem to notice his attack and instead stared at Lyara with intrigue.
"You aren't what you seem." Zeke snickered, making the dragoness' blood run cold.
"What do you mean?" Lyara chocked as she tried to act innocent.
"Don't toy with me!" Zeke screamed as he flung the dragoness down, her bones creaking as she hit the ground.
"Stop, what are you talking about?" Valin yelled trying to understand the situation.
"You don't know?" Zeke asked cackling. "You didn't tell him, he has a right to know what you are." He said turning to Lyara who was breathing heavily on the ground, as she tried to rise.
"Tell me!" Valin yelled now more curious than worried about the intimidating dragon.
"She is a goddess you imbecile, one full of incredible power. Although, it is fading." Zeke said with a mischievous grin.
Valin stared at Lyara in wonder as she slowly got back up. Shaking away her dizziness the dragoness gathered some of her energy, and fired it like a cannon knocking Zeke away, despite his massive size he still became airborne as he tumbled away. The dragoness felt her body go numb from the sudden loss of strength and her vision flashed for a moment before she mentally forbid herself from passing out.
"Valin run now!" Lyara screamed as she sprinted away from the monstrous dragon. Valin hardly thought about what he was doing before he was chasing after the silver goddess, his mind was going a million directions at once but the one thing he did know was that he couldn't stay there.
"You will be back goddess, in time!" They heard Zeke call out ominously from behind them. Lyara's wings burst open as she took to the air glancing behind her to check and see if they were being chased. To her surprise they saw that Zeke was standing next to his home unmoving, only staring at them, as he seemed to be in another trance.
The dragon's words rang clear in her mind though, but Lyara could not understand why he would ever expect them to return. The two flew for a few minutes until they were near to the outskirts of Salence, and could hear the cheers and laughter of the other dragons. Landing lightly on the ground Valin immediately turned to Lyara.
"What was that all about?" Valin asked and Lyara couldn't tell if he was scared or angry at this point.
"Specifically?" Lyara asked not knowing where to start.
"How about the goddess part." Valin answered.
Lyara sighed, as she thought of the best way to tell him.
"Aren't you going to tell us how he took it?" Aria asked as the dragoness abruptly stopped the story.
Lyara yawned as sleepiness began to set in. Her tired out state was not helping the situation any. Nodding off from her fatigue the dragoness' head tilted as she rested on Taelas' side, the purple dragon staring at her with raised eyebrows all the while.
"Lyara!" Aria said raising her voice, making the dragoness rise back up and look around quickly.
"Is it past your bedtime?" Aria asked sarcastically.
"I'm sorry what did you ask?" The silver dragoness said seemingly embarrassed by the whole situation.
"What happened with Valin, did he believe you?" The dragoness asked.
"Valin was skeptical, but he had seen me kill the wyvern, and he took every word out of Zeke's mouth seriously. He believed me."
"Was he scared, or angry at you for lying?" Ivarik asked.
"Yes and no. He wasn't happy, but luckily he was very civil about it all. He understood the situation I was in and was more than willing to help."
"So what happened next?" Taelas asked.
"It's a long story can't I finish it later?" Lyara asked looking up at the dragon as she yawned widely.
"I'd rather you finish it now." Taelas said gently but with an underlying firmness in his voice.
"Alright fine, I'll skip ahead about a week, nothing really happened in that time, I was simply adjusting to life in Salence, Valin was always at my side and everything seemed like it was going to be great. I couldn't have been more wrong about that."
"Lyara are you doing alright?" Valin asked staring looking back at the dragoness who was gradually falling behind once more.
"Ya, I'm…okay." She said through heavy breaths.
"I doubt that." Valin said turning around so that he could walk next to her.
"Well, I don't know what's happening Valin." Lyara sighed as she trudged along.
"But you're a-
"Goddess yes I know." Lyara said interrupting him as he snickered. Ever since he had learned of her true nature he had constantly brought it up whenever he could, of course he was only playing.
"Can gods even get sick?" Valin asked. "Also if so please don't give it to me." He quickly added.
"Gods can't get sick Valin, we are immortal, I've been alive for centuries." Lyara said.
"You look good for your age." Valin said, as Lyara looked at him, unable to get a read on his tone, but instead just saw his smiling face.
"Alright smartmouth what do you think the problem is?" Lyara asked.
"I was being serious you look really pretty." Valin said plainly. Lyara stared back at the dragon surprised. Despite her centuries of life she had never been told that. Who would have said it to her, no one lived in convexity.
"I…well…" The dragoness stammered not knowing how to reply. Her nervousness made Valin grin all the wider. The dragon stopped only when he heard a rustling in the forests nearby.
Lyara heard the noises too and she moved around Valin to get a better look. The underbrush in the forests wobbled and shook. Whatever was in there was big.
"Wyvern?" Lyara asked instantly thinking back to the large creature that had attacked her before.
"No, it wouldn't be moving through the forests like that." Valin answered his voice more of a whisper as he crouched down getting ready for whatever would come out. Not many creatures in the area would openly challenge a dragon, let alone two, that fact only put the dragons more on edge.
The two didn't have to wait much longer as a bestial roar pierced the air, and a massive creature broke through the outer foliage, knocking away bark and brush as it went. The creature had four legs and a grey mottled hide, like that of a pig. It had small puckish eyes and floppy ears on the side of its body. Small spikes went up its spine like barbs and claws were as large as Lyara's head. The most prominent feature however was the creature's massive teeth, which were hulking fangs lining the beast's mouth, they were probably strong enough and big enough to swallow a dragon whole.
Lyara cursed as the creature roared again, before unleashing a torrent of blazing black energy towards them. Lyara was the first to react. Despite her weakened state she managed to summon enough energy to create a light like barrier before them. The half dome looked like hundreds of little hexagons that compacted together to stop the black energy. However as weak as she was the shield slowly faded, blocking most all of the attack, but when the shield broke small wisps of energy cut through. One sliced Lyara making her cringe in pain. Looking to the spot she had been hit she watched as all of her scales in that small section dulled, as if they had died.
"What was that?" Valin asked as he looked around at what had been a normal field. The area around them, that had not been protected, looked as though it had died, as if it were a wasteland there.
"It's a creature of death, we call them Xil." Lyara answered. "We need to kill it now, it shouldn't be here anyway."
"What do you mean it shouldn't be here?" Valin asked as he sprinted forward hoping to get in a quick attack on the fiend.
"I mean it's from convexity! Don't let it touch you with that black energy, you'll die!" Lyara yelled back as she began to circle around the Xil.
"Great." Valin groaned as he spat a ball of fire at the creature striking its side and causing it to flinch and writhe from the burn. Following up the attack Valin charged forward grappling onto the Xil's back and digging into it with sharp claws.
As the Xil jumped and bucked trying to throw Valin from its back Lyara circled round. Watching for a moment as the red dragon clung tightly onto the beast Lyara focused her mind.
Gathering energy into her body the dragoness yelled to the crimson dragon. "Valin let go now!" Without waiting, for she couldn't keep her power contained, the dragoness burst forward like a bullet from a gun.
Lyara smashed into the Xil's side with a sickening crunch, as the inter-dimensional beast fell to its side whining in pain from cracked ribs and slight internal bleeding. Lyara got back up to all fours and stared at the creature as Valin came up beside her.
"Are you alright?" The dragoness asked.
"I'm fine wha- The dragon was interrupted as Lyara fell onto his side. "Maybe I should be asking you if you're okay." He said as the dragoness continued to breathe heavily.
"Put…it…out of…its misery." The dragoness said between breaths as she lay down on the grass resigned to fatigue. Valin only nodded, as he slowly approached the creature, he didn't want it to suddenly attack him. Coming to its head the dragon stared into the creature's sullen features. Its pain and fear were obvious as its eyes darted back and forth before focusing on Valin. The dragon felt a spike of guilt as he raised his bladed tail up slowly. He took a deep breath, and reminded himself that this was for the best, before plunging the blade through the Xil's skull. There was a short cry before the beast fell still and Valin wiped his tail and walked back to Lyara who was still on the ground.
"Thank you for doing that, I'm sure that it wasn't easy, but it was for the best." Lyara said gently as Valin laid down next to her.
"Never mind that, it was for the best." Valin replied. "Why was it here though, if it was supposed to be in convexity."
"I don't know." Lyara answered meekly.
"Alright then we need to at least do something about you." Valin said.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that you are getting weaker."
"Is that a fact?" The dragoness asked, her voice edged with slight anger, as she took the saying more as an insult than anything else.
"That isn't what I meant." Valin said.
"But it is true." A voice said from behind them. Valin turned jumping up and readying himself, he had already had too many surprises for one day. What he found gave him an uneasy feeling as he stared at two dragons, one black, and the other white.
"You aren't weak Lyara, you are dying." Arum said bluntly.
"What do you mean? And how did you find us?" The dragoness said standing up.
"We mean that without convexity we are all dying, gods are not meant to go beyond their plane." Sol explained.
"By that measure you are both being afflicted as well." Lyara argued.
"We are being affected, the only difference being that we have not exerted ourselves unlike you, so the process has been slowed." Arum explained.
"You mean I'll die?" Lyara asked afraid of the answer.
"Lyara hold on, you aren't going to die, and who are these two anyway?" Valin asked in confusion as he eyed Sol and Arum warily.
"Found yourself a friend have you?" Arum asked looking at Valin and baring his teeth. "I don't like him."
"You won't touch him Arum." Lyara said but her words were weak, and without any real threat. "Valin, these are my brothers, you met Arum." She said pointing to the black dragon. "And quieter one is Sol."
"Your brothers?" Valin asked astounded. "I thought you said that no one lived in convexity.
"I said almost no one else; they are the only other ones there that aren't monsters." Lyara clarified. "Although they might as well be."
"You would watch your tongue Lyara, in that state we could kill you, and may I remind you that we are not feeling very fond of you at the moment." Arum growled angrily.
"Please, try to fight me, you'll find that I'm more than capable." Lyara said boisterously, her words being a bluff of course.
"Aren't you supposed to be family?" Valin asked, breaking up the tension. "Shouldn't you love each other?"
"Perhaps our dear sister didn't tell you mortal." Sol said finally speaking up. "We share no true blood, Lyara was cast upon us."
"I was charged with you." Lyara hissed. "You both had your chance to rule convexity and you failed. I was tasked with the challenge of picking up the pieces."
"And you truly showed that you were up to the task when you ran back to this world." Arum retorted.
"What do you mean back?" Lyara asked, but the black dragon ignored her, leaving her to ponder the curious turn of phrase.
"We need to go back to convexity before we all die here, the air is like poison, can you not feel it?" Sol asked.
"No, I won't go back; I like it here, even if it does kill me!" The dragoness cried.
"Lyara you…" Valin trailed off as the silver dragoness stared at him wide-eyed, he could see tears on the brim of her eye lids.
"If you care so much about this place then you will at least save it." Sol argued.
"What do you mean?" Lyara asked intrigued as a sudden wave of worry came over her.
"How do you think that creature got here?" Arum asked pointing to the dead Xil. Lyara didn't have a response for him however and his question went unanswered. "It came through the same portal you made, it never closed and creatures have begun to wander through it."
"Then why haven't you both left already, neither of you want to be here." Lyara asked, as she was skeptical about the story.
"We tried, believe me." Sol said. "You see the portal seems to be constantly open in convexity, however here it only opens for a moment to let whatever being is using it through. Then it turns back into a ripple keeping anyone from going through."
"So how can I help?" Lyara asked.
"You were the one who made the portal so you might be able to trigger something when you go near it." Arum explained.
"Fine, for the sake of keeping this place at peace I'll go." Lyara said.
"Shouldn't you be worried about your health first?" Valin asked as he watched the dragoness' sluggish movements. "Whatever you might have to do will probably require energy and that is something you can't afford to lose."
"What would you suggest that I do, nothing can help." Lyara argued.
"Actually, there might be something." Valin said making the silver dragoness raise a scaly brow. "You remember Zeke right?"
"How could I forget." The dragoness' said answering Valin's rhetorical question.
"Well, I never told you because I didn't think that it was relevant, but he has been living for longer than anyone knows. When the current elder was a child Zeke was still alive and healthy. Even Arius says that when his parents were young that Zeke was still alive."
"What does that mean? Does he live forever?" Lyara asked.
"We don't know, but the point is that he might know some way to fix your plight." Valin explained. "He knows magic, strong magic."
"What would make him help us though?" Lyara asked.
"He did say that we would come back, maybe this is that time." Valin said.
Lyara stared at the ground as she twiddled the grass between her talons. "It's worth a shot." She said. "If I don't do anything I'll die for sure, at least with Zeke there is about half a chance that I'll live."
"Where did you get that statistic?" Valin asked walking beside the now moving dragoness.
"I'm an optimist." Lyara replied. "Hey you two." She called back to her brothers. "Come with us we have someone to see."
The four made their way back across the fields towards the familiar area that was Zeke's home. Strangely enough as they approached Valin and Lyara could see the massive dragon, waiting for them, as if he had predicted the time of their arrival.
"You have returned goddess, and brought others." Zeke said as the four approached tentatively, Valin and Lyara who were leading the way stood several feet back to give themselves a small sense of security.
"Have you simply told everyone that you are a goddess?" Arum asked angrily.
"Quiet!" Lyara quipped, before turning back around to face Zeke. "They are my brothers." She said shortly.
"Two more gods, although they are very different from you. You are indeed an unusual being." Zeke said smiling as he showed his glaring white fangs.
"We need your help." Lyara said bluntly.
"My help? I am but a humble dragon amongst gods." Zeke said with a mocking bow.
"We know that you aren't just some exile Zeke." Lyara said catching the larger dragon off-guard. The adult quickly looked back up and bent down to stare at Lyara very closely, his eyes seeming to bore through her.
"What do you need?" Zeke asked tentatively.
"We need something that will keep us from dying. You see we are from convexity, and because we aren't in our own dimension our energy is seeping out of our bodies." The dragoness explained.
"Someone of my skill could possibly craft an item to help you." Zeke said as he pondered the query.
"Could you really just like that?" Lyara asked surprised by the positive response.
"I never said it would be easy, but nothing is impossible for one who has been alive for as long as I have." Zeke said. "You see I have spent most of my life perfecting longevity techniques. There is a chance that I could make something for you."
"Wait!" Valin yelled unable to contain himself. "Why are you doing this? The last time we met you tried to kill us, what's the catch?"
"So suspicious. I have my reasons, although I can assure you that they will not affect you. I've heard that there are monsters stalking the wilds nearby, perhaps we shouldn't be wasting time with pointless questions." Zeke said his tone sinister.
"If you want to help us then why did you attack us earlier?" Valin asked.
"Circumstances have changed since then." Zeke replied.
"Forget it Valin, he has his own agenda and we have ours." Lyara said cutting off the dragon's next retort. "Do it make whatever you have to, just do it quick, and make the same thing for my brothers they'll need it too." The dragoness said to a grinning Zeke.
"Lyara you can't do this, it will come back to haunt you." Valin said as Zeke turned and ducked into his home.
"I can't think about that now Valin." Lyara said turning to him. "I can feel myself fading; even now I'm finding it hard to stand up. I'll die if I don't take this chance."
"And what about us? You just resigned our fate to this 'Zeke' as well." Arum said clearly upset with her choices.
"Give yourself a few days and you will feel the same as me." Lyara retorted.
"You cannot order me around!" Arum growled.
"I know what's best for us Arum now I won't hear any more of this!" Lyara screamed as she finally lost her temper. As the dragoness began to reel from exhaustion Arum took his chance, and in an abrupt outburst lurched forward ramming the dragoness with his horns. He didn't care that Lyara was their only way home, or that she could die. She had been lording herself over them for too long. Lyara fell to the ground her vision dark.
"I don't remember what happened after that." Lyara said to the others who were listening intently.
"What? You mean that's how the story ends?" Syra asked upset.
"With all of those cliffhangers and mysterious things happening, you can't just leave it like this!" Aria complained as Lyara denied her the ending that she had been waiting for.
"I didn't mean it like that." The silver dragoness chuckled. "I was knocked out I don't know what transpired while I was asleep." She clarified.
"Oh alright." Aria grinned, her concern fading from her face.
"Are you really that interested in all of this?" Lyara asked in an attempt to sate her own interest.
"Of course I am, you could be a story teller Lyara." The dragoness said enthusiastically.
"I-I suppose I could." The dragoness said pondering the idea.
"Do you have any other stories?" Aria asked curiously.
"I have another story about a time when all of convexity was being destroyed by rampaging creatures and my brothers and I had to stabilize the core of the plane through life-giving means. In short we kept the entire dimension safe while at the same time keeping it from spilling across the other planes of existence, which would have caused a complete breakdown of the multiverse as we know it." The dragoness replied in a monotone voice.
"Really?" Aria asked excitedly as she practically bounced up and down a wide grin on her face. "Wait, are you telling the truth, did that really happen?"
"Maybe we should just let her finish this story first." Taelas interrupted.
"But wait was all of that true? What you just said?" Aria asked desperate for an answer.
"Anyway, like I was saying, I was knocked out by Arum, and I woke up the next morning." Lyara said, leaving Aria's question to fall on deaf ears.
"What happened?" Lyara asked groggily as her eyes cracked open.
"Oh Lyara you're finally up, you slept all night." A voice, who she recognized as Valin, said from nearby.
"Define up." The dragoness said. "I don't think that I can move."
"Really you mean it?" Valin asked worried as he stared at the dragoness, as he spoke the dragon poked Lyara hesitantly to see if she could feel anything.
"I can still feel that." She said frowning at him.
"Oh…sorry." Valin said backing away a little embarrassed.
"Can you just tell me what happened?" Lyara asked.
"Arum knocked you out and Sol and I had to calm him down. I regret to say that Sol did most of the work, your brothers are really strong." Valin explained.
"You cannot compete with gods Valin, it's alright though, I'm just glad that you didn't get hurt." Lyara said.
There was an awkward pause between the two as Valin tried to decipher if that had any meaning behind it.
"A-anyway what happened after that?" Lyara asked trying to quickly change the subject.
"We calmed Arum down and brought you inside and you slept until now, its morning." Valin said.
"What about Zeke did he finish with the talismans?"
"Not that I know of but I think he worked through the night so he may be done soon."
"Correction, I am done." Zeke said appearing across the room.
"What you're done?" Valin asked hardly believing him.
"After thinking about it, the problem was rather simple. You're bodies are dying because they can't sustain themselves in this universe. Therefore I just need to make you a lifeline." Zeke explained.
"And you did that?" Valin asked.
"Yes, a little impatient aren't you? I finished the talismans last night." Zeke said dully.
"And you didn't tell us?" Valin growled angrily.
"I felt that I should make things suspenseful." Zeke said.
"She could've died!" Valin yelled standing up, fire falling from his maw, as his anger grew.
"And I'll let that happen if you don't shut up!" Zeke said his own anger flaring up. The younger dragon went silent at the threat. He still feared Zeke more than anything else.
"Well, can you not help me now?" Lyara asked watching the black dragon.
"I can, I will go and get the talismans, wait here." Zeke said as he turned around.
"I don't have much of a choice." Lyara said as she watched him go.
The dragon returned mere moments later, Sol and Arum by his side. He stopped in front of Lyara and lay down the four small talismans on a small cloth. They seemed more like crystals than rocks, with shiny metallic surfaces; they shined amongst the drab atmosphere of the hut. Zeke picked up the first small stone between his talons. This one was white and symmetrical like a perfect diamond, hung by a silver chain. Zeke took the necklace, and laced it around Sol's neck. The amulet hung for only a moment before it gleamed brightly just before sinking into Sol's scales and disappearing entirely.
"Tingly." Sol said taking a deep breathe. "But refreshing." He said sharply a sudden burst of blinding light flashing through the room. "My thanks seer." He said with a short bow before he exited the hut.
Zeke nodded to the white dragon, before turning back to the talismans. "Arum take this." He said picking up yet another stone, which was black as night and unlike Sol's amulet the stone, looked garish and broken. Arum accepted the rough stone, and the same events transpired. With a grunt the dragon left the hut as well.
"Not the most grateful dragon." Zeke snorted as he turned back to his talismans.
"I apologize." Lyara said, a weak gesture but it was better than nothing.
"You cannot apologize for him, nor is it your place." Zeke said as he fiddled with the talismans, finally reaching for white one that was akin to Sol's talisman.
"Zeke why are there two talismans left? Did you make an extra?" The silver dragoness asked trying to sate her curiosity.
"No, on the contrary they are both for you young one." Zeke explained.
"What do you mean, why do I need two of them?" Lyara asked curiously.
"You need two because unlike you brothers you are very special." Zeke said. Seeing the dragoness' confused face he sighed. "I examined all of you while I was making these and while I only found one source of power coming from the other two, you had two. Therefore you need two sealing talismans and not one."
"Why would I be different from them?" Lyara asked although the question was more rhetorical than anything, as she knew that neither of them would have the answer.
"You know more about yourself than I." Zeke said meekly as he placed the first amulet around Lyara's neck. The dragoness felt a fuzzy tingling sensation as the amulet faded into her body. Some of her strength returned, but much less than what she was expecting. Perhaps she was simply expecting too much from the magical items she thought as Zeke picked up the second talisman, this one darker and garish looking. Placing the amulet around her neck just as the other was it too disappeared. This time however Lyara gasped in surprise as a burst of energy flowed through her lithe form. The air around her crackled with energy as she slowly stood up feeling her new returned strength.
"How do you feel?" Valin asked.
"Rejuvenated." Lyara responded with a smile as she looked to him. Valin smiled back happy to see her strength returning. Then in a split second he noticed the dragoness' eyes, normally a deep crimson, flashed black, they changed only for a second before turning back, but nonetheless it made Valin gawk.
"What's wrong?" Lyara asked as she couldn't see what had happened.
"Your eyes, they just changed color, and then switched back." Valin explained. Hearing this Lyara looked to Zeke who shrugged in response.
"Your body is regaining its strength if I had to guess it was just some power fluctuation, nothing to be worried about." He said nonchalantly.
"Let's hope so." Lyara responded an edge to her tone.
"Now perhaps you should hold up your end of the bargain and drive those creatures back through and into your own dimension." Zeke said. "That was the reason I was helping you."
"You are right it's time now. Thank you Zeke, you turned out to be not as bad as I thought you would." Lyara said giving a little grin.
"I'll take that as a compliment girl now go." Zeke said the faint hint of a smile tugging at his mouth. The two bowed once more before leaving the hut and meeting Sol and Arum outside.
"Now that we are all bandaged up I believe that we have some work to do." Sol said.
"It will be an easy fight now; I can probably handle it by myself if you both want to sit this one out." Arum proclaimed boastfully.
"We won't sit out, Arum, but you are right, this will take only a second now." Lyara said. "Kill whatever creatures that you see, then we will deal with the portal."
The two nodded and took to the air quickly, before Lyara followed them however she looked over to Valin who was still beside her. "Valin." She started grabbing his attention. "Valin thank you for standing by me through all of this, you have no idea how much I appreciate it."
"It was nothing." The dragon scoffed.
"That being said, I want you to listen to what I say now. When this fight starts, do not enter the battle. Believe me if you do you will only get hurt, as these aren't your average creatures. I promise that nothing will happen to us, but I couldn't guarantee your safety if you tried to fight."
"You're sure?" He asked hesitantly.
"I am, please I am not trying to insult you, it's just that. I don't want to see you hurt." Lyara stammered
"What if I don't want to see you hurt either? I feel it is my duty to take care of you."
"Please Valin, you, take care of me? I am a goddess and capa- Valin stopped her, placing his lips onto hers. The kiss was passionate, but it only lasted for a moment, leaving Lyara shocked and stunned as she blinked a few times.
"Come on, we don't want to lose track of your brothers." Valin said with a childish grin before he took to the air. Lyara still in shock smiled to herself as she could feel her scales flushing. Everything was going to work out she thought as she too jumped into the sky.
The four made their way back across the mildly familiar landscape. It wasn't long before they came to the place that Lyara remembered well. The portal that had brought them to this world was now surrounded by monsters, those of which Lyara, Sol, and Arum could name individually. Valin however was surprised, even traumatized at the wide assortment of varying and abnormally shaped creatures that had gathered. They struck fear into his heart as he stared at them and a small portion of his mind was glad that he would not have to face them. The red dragon turned to find Lyara who was now flapping her wings to stay aloft next to her brothers.
"Would you both like to thin the crowd before I move in?" Lyara asked, getting a resulting nod from her brothers, and a sinister smile from Arum, who would no doubt enjoy the slaughter. Lyara didn't like the idea, but she knew it was necessary, most all of the creatures below were aggressive, and would harm anything they saw, dragons included, if they allowed them to roam free they would cause chaos. "Three swift attacks should do it." The dragoness reminded. "No need to overdo it."
Neither dragon responded as they were already concentrating. An attack of this volume could not simply be conjured, it instead required time, and so Lyara too began to focus herself as well, and muster her power. The dragoness, her eyes closed could only hear the destruction that ensued. Some ultimate attack that Sol and Arum were performing. She thought it impossible, judging by the cries and explosions, which any of the creatures had survived. That however didn't matter, she would still perform her attack, she had to be sure that they were all wiped out.
Feeling the air around her already thick with her energy, the dragoness' eyes snapped open, her wings ceased their endless beat, and Lyara fell from the sky. Like a silver bullet she dropped out of orbit, and down to the ground, her body moving so quickly that Valin could hardly follow the movement. With a small flip, more for finesse than anything, the dragoness crashed into the ground landing on all fours, cracking the ground beneath her as if it were glass. A sudden burst of energy exploded from the dragoness, forming a dome around her, which was at least a two-hundred foot radius. The black dome swirled like ink, Lyara nowhere to be seen as she stood in the center of it. Valin began to note a screeching sound almost like a high pitched whistle. It grew louder and louder as time passed, until the point where the dragon thought that his ears would bleed.
Then all at once the black energy and the noise ceased to exist ending in the sound of a massive crack as if lightning had struck mere inches from them. Valin after blinking a few times looked down, making his jaw drop in surprise. Where the blackness had once been was now a circular wasteland, a desolate cracked slab of dirt, which had become void of any and all life. In the center of it stood Lyara, as still as the barren terrain. Small glistening silver particles swirled around her and the area, the only remnants of what remained of what had been.
"Lyara what did you do, are you alright?" Valin asked diving down to the dragoness, both Sol and Arum behind him.
"That was something I never like to do, it obliterates everything within the area, I kept the attack to a minimum but it is still devastating." Lyara said looking sadly at the floating particles which seemed to be defying gravity as they fluttered about. "And yes I am okay."
"Don't feel bad though you did what you had to do and that's good; you had me worried for a moment there." He said smiling.
"Little old me?" Lyara asked a small grin tugging at her mouth.
"Lyara." Arum grunted. "I would hate to interrupt, but we need to go back, before more of the monsters come through."
"You need to go back, and I will close the portal behind you." Lyara clarified.
"No, you have to come with us!" Arum growled angrily, already tired of such a debate.
"Why is that Arum, why? You don't want me there anyway!" She argued equally as irritated.
"Because Lyara, we lack the powers to keep convexity in balance, such power was given to you; as much as I hate to admit it we need you." Arum explained as he tried to cool his emotions.
"We can settle this after I close the portal." Lyara said walking away from the three and towards the now swirling dimensional tear.
"Once it starts to close you will only have a few moments to get through." Lyara said, before she began to mumble strange phrases, which sounded only vaguely familiar to Sol and Arum. The others stood in silence as the dragoness completed her incantation and then the portal began to shiver in the air as it opened up before it began to slowly shut once more.
"Go now!" Lyara yelled.
"You are coming with us!" Arum yelled, his right claw suddenly bursting into flames. He reached out quicker than light his paw sinking through Lyara's scales, as if he where an apparition.
Lyara gasped and coughed, as she felt her body grow cold and her strength drain. The dragoness held back a scream of agony as Arum wrench his claw back out, pulling with it the two talismans that Zeke had given her. Lyara fell to the ground in front of him still reeling from the massive loss of energy.
"It was a simple spell that Zeke cast on these talismans to hide them from others. To make them sink into our skin for protection, one that can easily be overcome by the right dragon." Arum said, hanging the necklaces around his own neck. They did not sink in however, for they were not attuned to his body.
"Sol grab her, we are taking her back to convexity, whether she likes it or not." Arum said nodding to the white dragon, who moved to the task.
"You can't just take her!" Valin yelled charging forward. His attempt, though valiant, was easy counter act as Arum rolled out of the way before lunging back colliding with the fire dragon and sending him sprawling to the ground.
"Don't hurt him! He didn't do anything to you!" Lyara screamed, tears coming to her eyes as all that was happening was proving to be too much for her senses.
"Stay there, and you maybe I won't kill you." Arum sneered as Valin stood back up.
Arum turned his back to watch Sol pick up Lyara and maneuver her onto his back. With the black dragon's attention caught, Valin took his chance. Against his own better judgment he leapt forward hoping to pounce on Arum, and subdue him, maybe if he was lucky even kill him. He knew it was dangerous but he could not simply stand by.
Closing in on the dragon, Valin felt himself stop suddenly. Hanging in midair the red dragon felt numbness begin to spread through his body. Looking down he found Arum's tail piercing his chest, the blade sunk deep into his flesh.
"I told you to stay put." Arum said not even facing the dragon as he spoke. "A foolish choice to throw your life away mortal. Death is all you will know now." Arum said as he flicked the dragon to the ground where he lay. Unable to move as Valin watched as Lyara being carried away.
The dragoness cried out in rage and sorrow as she watched Valin lie in the dirt, is life blood dripping out. She tried to move, tried to fight, but found that she could not, so she sobbed uncontrollably as the world and Valin faded from view, the portal carrying her and her brothers back to their own bleak existence.
As soon as the three came out of the portal and down onto solid ground the hole closed leaving them in the silence of their home. Lyara immediately jumped up her power replenished as if it had never left her.
"You will both pay dearly, for what you have done today." She said grimly as she wrenched her necklaces back off of Arum, putting them back on so that they disappeared once more. Tears were still running from her eyes as she spoke.
"You cannot kill us, nor really harm us, not here." Sol said.
"No your punishment will be far worse." Lyara said darkly striking fear into the two brothers. "You have kept me here trapped, and cut off from the world I wish to be a part of. Imprisonment is what you have done."
"Do not be brash Lyara!" Arum said trying to calm her down.
"On the contrary this is rational, an eye for an eye." The dragoness laughed, before quickly mouthing a few words, the action came so quickly that neither of the two could stop her. Before they could say anything Sol and Arum felt their paws become harder, looking down they noted that the stone floor seemed to be crawling up, and encasing them.
"What are you doing Lyara?" Sol screamed.
"You have kept me here in imprisonment, and so now, I shall return the gesture. You will both be encased here unless summoned by outside forces to deal with a problem." Lyara explained. "But do not fret, I will be joining you." The dragoness said as her own body began to turn to stone. "I have no desire to be here, and so I shall not suffer in this place, be happy that I have not decided to kill you both this day, you deserve it surely, but I find that a lifetime of imprisonment will be more painful than death." Lyara said with a smile as the stone fully took her over.
"And that was the last thing that I remember, until I came here." Lyara said abruptly ending the story. Expecting some sort of response the dragoness got none to her surprise, as the rest of the dragons tried to sort through the information. "That's all." She said to clarify the end of the story.
"Lyara, I'm so sorry." Aria said breaking the silence. "To have endured all of that, takes a lot of strength.
"It's alright." Lyara said although she could hardly say the words without her voice breaking. "There was a reason that I was telling you that story, not just because it related to Salence."
"What was that?" Taelas asked, looking down at the dragoness who was leaning on his side.
"The talismans that Zeke gave to us. You all remember them don't you?" Lyara asked receiving nods from all of the dragons around her.
"You got yours back from Arum right before…" Syra trailed off not wanting to mention the unfortunate turn of events.
"Yes, but as Taelas saw when I had my confrontation with Sol and Arum, I lost them again. Those two must have done something, and cast them off." Lyara explained.
Ivarik was the quickest to put the pieces together as he spoke up. "But if you lost them, and you are here in our world then that means…"
"I am dying." Lyara said plainly.