Chapter 13: All or Nothing
Star suddenly had a terrible feeling in her heart and turned around. Razor and the others stopped and turned to her. Ethan walked up to Star and asked, "What's wrong did you hear something?"
"He's gone." Star said in a quiet voice. Ethan turned to the others and said, "What do you mean, who's gone?"
Star let a single tear drop down her face before she said, "Pyro's gone. He's dead." The others gasped at this shocking news. Trisha quickly stepped forward and said, "That's impossible. It can't be true."
Star turned to the others and saw despair on each of their faces. Razor finally broke the silence, "Without Pyro we can't go any further. It's over." Everyone hung their heads in shock and sadness over their lost king.
Everyone was in utter disbelief. For Pyro the most powerful dragon in the city to be defeated by humans was just unbelievable. it was more than they any of them could take.
Star closed her eyes and turned away from the others and looked out to where Pyro had fought Jones. Ethan looked at Star and knew she was taking this the hardest and tried to comfort her. Just before Ethan could touch her he looked down and saw Star's paw glowing.
"Star … your paw! Look at it!" Ethan called out getting everyone's attention. Star looked down to see her paw glowing with a golden aura.
Razor took a closer look and gasped at what he saw. Razor had figured out what the glow around Star's paw was. "That's Pyro's ancestral energy! It must be inside you!" Razor stated.
Everyone gasped and turned to Star. Star looked at the golden aura around her paw and asked, "How did I… when did this happen?" Star gasped as she flashbacked to when Pyro took hold of her paw when she was about to follow the others.
"Before I left…when he grabbed my hand, that's when he gave me some of his power." "But why would he do that?" Razor asked curiously.
"Because he knew he might not have been able to win. And he wanted to make sure that we could move in case he didn't." Star stated catching everyone's attention.
"So just in case he didn't… he gave me some of his power so we would be able to move on." Razor stepped forward and said, "Then we move on. If it was his last wish that we get home safely, then we must honor it!"
Everyone nodded in unison and turned to Star. Star looked at all of them in surprise. Razor in front of Star and asked, "Where do we go? You're the one he gave his power to… you're the one who leads us."
Star erased all doubts and led the dragons through the forest. Star took one more look back at the battle grounds and turned away to lead the dragons. Before she finally left she said on last thing, "Goodbye Pyro."
The dragons left with only the thought of moving forward on their minds. As Star and the others disappeared over the hill, Jones and his soldiers appeared behind them. One of the soldiers asked, "Sir, do we engage?"
Jones turned to him and said, "No, we don't know the gems exact location. We'll let them lead us right to the thing. Stay close, but don't let them see you. Group B take the blue dragons to the holding grounds in the east. We'll meet up with you later."
With those last orders the soldiers split up. Jones was making his final mover. However Pyro was not dead. He awoke in a strange place and began to look around. Pyro walked up a big hill and on the other side was the "Dragon City" in ruins.
The sky was dark red, and the clouds were a jet black. There were broken pieces of the buildings piled up in ruble everywhere.
The city was lit up with flames and no one was around. Pyro shook his head in disbelief and said, "No this isn't happening, it can't be happening."
Pyro charged for the city. He ran through the city frantically looking for any signs of life, but saw no one. Pyro walked to his palace and saw it completely destroyed: the stairs had been reduced to rubble.
The entrance was sealed by tumbling rocks, and the ground was covered in metal parts and blood. He had finally reached the center of the city.
In the middle of the area was a sea of blood that had bodies from both sides in it. Pyro swallowed from the horrified scene, but he knew he couldn't and didn't want to stop.
Pyro kept walking, turned his head, and received a shock. Pyro's heart skipped a few beats and stared at the scene. His friends were lying dead in front of him in pools of their own blood. He couldn't help but vomit at the scene.
Pyro could see that his friends had been brutally murdered by human soldiers. Their bodies revealed everything the humans had done to them.
He ran over to them and began to look them over. Razor and Trisha had countless bullet holes in them and several slash marks along their sides.
Ethan had given his life to protect Sarah from a spear but it had gone through both of them.
Skye and Luna were side by side; Skye had many slash marks and his wings had been torn off, while Luna was covered in puncture wounds, and had her tail blade chopped off.
Pyro walked past the pile of bodies and looked around wondering how this could have happened. "P-Pyro." a faint voice called out. He whipped his head around to see Star covered in blood and limping towards him. "Y-You're ok."
Pyro ran over to her as fast as he could. Star tried to walk over to him, but she stumble and fell to the ground hard.
Pyro had gotten to her in time to catch her head. He placed her on her back softly and held her face close to his. "Star, what happened here, what happened to everyone?!"
Pyro yelled letting tears run down his cheeks. Star opened her eyes and began to speak, "They came out of nowhere, Jones and his soldiers. We tried to stop them, but they were too strong."
Pyro shook his head disbelief at his failure to save his home. Star coughed a few times and coughed blood all over Pyro's legs and paws.
He bent down and held Star close to his chest as he said, "Star…please hang on… you're going to be ok…I promise."
Star shook her head and said, "No Pyro…I can't hang on… I just can't hold on anymore." Pyro turned away from Star and took another look at the destruction the humans had caused.
He felt Star's paw touch his cheek, and he slowly turned to her. Pyro looked down at the fading dragoness as she let out her last words, "Pyro I'm sorry we couldn't stop them. I'm so sorry."
With those last words Star fell to the ground lifeless. Pyro shook his head in disbelief and yelled out, "Star … Star please you have to wake up!" Pyro got no response out of the dragoness. Pyro let one tear after another flow from his face as he placed his head to Star's.
Pyro felt like a spear had just been stabbed through his heart as the dragoness he loved, died in his arms, right in front of him. Pyro's sadness slowly turned to rage as he yelled out to the heavens with all his might that was left in his body, "NO… NO … NOOOOO!"
Pyro soon shot his eyes open and he was awake. Pyro looked around and noticed he was back in the forest where he fought Jones. "I'm alive, I survived?"
Pyro asked not sure what was going on. "You survived by mere luck young dragon. I must say you are indeed lucky to be alive." Pyro turned around to see Maximus walking towards him. Pyro walked up to the dragon and asked, "How did I survive that last attack?"
Maximus stepped towards Pyro and said, "The power he used belonged to your family to begin with, it will not hurt its rightful owner. However that is not the point, you must go after Jones and stop him before he gets to the gem. If you don't defeat him Pyro, your dream will become a reality."
Pyro looked down at his paws and said, "I can't stop him. That metal armor he has makes him to powerful and not only that, he has my power inside that thing."
Maximus looked down at the young dragon looking very discouraged by this news. Pyro lifted his head and said, "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try."
Maximus looked at the young dragon with a look of shock on his face that slowly turned to a look of sheer joy towards Pyro's new found strength. Pyro continued to speak, "No matter what, I'll do what needs to be done to protect my people and my kingdom."
Maximus smiled down at the young dragon. Pyro started walking away when Maximus stopped by placing his paw down in front of him. Pyro turned to the elder dragon behind him.
Maximus began speaking, "If you truly are set on facing Jones then there might be way for you to defeat him. It's time I told you the history of our first king. Pyro raised a brow to the statement and listened to Maximus's words.
Maximus began his story, "Long ago the first dragon king 'Titanus' ruled the dragon city. He unlike the kings who came after him had no other element, and because of that he could use the full extent of his powers. Since he was the first king the power existed in him in a pure form. Titanus was the strongest king the dragon city had ever known. He could easily defeat any of kings who came after him. When he finally had an heir to his throne and his time had finally come. However Titanus sensed that his power would be needed in the future and so he left his power behind for any who were of pure heart, and strong willed to claim it."
Pyro had wide eyes to the story he had been told. Pyro looked up at Maximus and said, "I'll do it, I'll take the power."
"I was hoping you'd say that young dragon." Maximus pulled out an old jar with a Chinese dragon drawn all the way around it, with a red liquid inside.
Pyro walked forward and asked, "Is that blood?" Maximus nodded and said, "In this blood, the power of Titanus lies however, because Titanus was so powerful the blood is practically poisonous to anyone who dares to drink it."
Only after your body battles the poison and overtakes it, will your body absorb the power. Once you absorb the power it will then be added to your own, and your strength will ever acceded those of Titanus's."
Pyro gulped loudly and looked hard at the red liquid. Pyro looked up with determination shining in his eyes and said, "I'll do it."
Pyro took hold of the cup and gulped down the blood.
Pyro's eyes suddenly shot open and he roared out in pain. It felt like something was eating away at his insides. Pyro's whole body felt numb and he couldn't move.