Chapter 21

Fire, Rocks and Mechanical Works

It was now three days since Magolor barely escaped Halcandra, and we hadn't slept a wink since. Judging by the fact that we didn't seem one bit tired, we must've previously slept a very long time. Only, those times we fought on the side of Nightmare's demons…it all felt like yesterday. I was sure it was longer ago than that, but how was I supposed to know with this crown controlling all but my silent innermost thoughts? At this point, it seemed that time could be either flying by at the speed of light or standing still as a mountain.

Our cursed self stood on a small ledge of rock this entire time, patiently waiting for that gleaming Starcutter to appear once more. There was no doubt the Master Crown wanted it to show up before it any second so it would force us to shoot it down and possibly injure Magolor, or worse, finish him off. I wished him not to return. At least not yet. And if he did happen to return around now, I'd hate for him and the Lor Starcutter to appear close to here, where the crown was more likely to find him. Then again…this crown seemed to track down anything from a mile away, as such happened during our time of war; whenever it detected a demon in danger, no matter the distance here on Halcandra, it was always it and us, the Guardian Angel, who rushed to their rescue. But even then…maybe he could escape its range of sense with a very slim chance of luck…but all this was only answered in the longest waiting game.

Day slowly became dusk and dusk became evening when the Lor Starcutter finally appeared out of nowhere, quickly descending from the smoky sky above. Unfortunately, the Master Crown got its wish, being as quick to notice it as I was. With a tiny ember of remaining hope, I wished a message to Magolor, hoping for the slightest chance he would receive it.

Master Magolor, hear us out,

Possessed, our hearts are full of doubt,

Please do not turn last hope down,

As you oppose the Master Crown.

As I quietly chanted these lines, the Master Crown's power fused with our conjoined body once again. Unable to resist its power, we began to spit fireballs at the Starcutter. Many fireballs missed, until my lower-head sister unwillingly directly hit its flank, sending it crashing into the rough ground. Watching the last part made me feel horrible for falling for the crown. How I desperately wished not to find the corpse of my master…

The Guardians gone, the warriors through,

All we have left is to count on you,

They cannot save us, so let it be,

We beg you Master, please set us free!

Seeing the Starcutter fallen, we flew onto another rock to perch, closer to the site of the crash but still quite a distance. From there, we sat and stared at the gleaming ship in another waiting game, thankfully not as long as our previous one. The side of the ship started to glow as a gap opened in its side, and a yellow spark zipped out of it and rested on the ground just outside. Then four creatures came running out, with unharmed Magolor standing at the doorway, waving to them as if wishing them luck. Thank goodness he wasn't hurt! The little yellow spark transformed into a large yellow star, which the four others grabbed onto as it flew out of sight.

Magolor floated out of the Starcutter and gazed up at the burn on its flank, his ears folded back as if afraid of what would come next. We gave a loud growl which he seemed to hear, because now he glared at us as we did to him. His eyes turned fierce in our intense stare-off that lasted near an eternity. I felt all of our eyes burning; we closed them for a moment opening them to unleash a harsh blast of a roar, louder than any I recalled hearing at the time. We then took to the sky with me unable to look back to say goodbye.

We flew to a place we invaded countless times during our time of war: the now-desolate factory of which Magolor feared to take us all those years back. With time, a common mission for us was to invade this place to swipe any treasures and fight any warriors we could find. But treasures weren't on the Master Crown's mind right now, nor were any Galaxy Soldiers if any remained. We roosted on a tall block of dirty metal and saw the four creatures from earlier. This time, I got a better look at them.

The first wasn't much more than a pink ball with stubby arms, red feet and large blue eyes and dark pink blushes under them. Nothing more, nothing less.

The second was about the same height as the first, but with red-orange skin, a cream-colored face, brown eyes, a spear in hand, and a blue cloth wrapped around the top of its head. Out of the four, it seemed the most timid.

The third was hardest to describe- much taller than the others, bird-like and dressed in red, white and gold. It also wielded a large star-studded mallet that looked heavy to anyone else who dared to carry it. The creature with the blue cloth around its head seemed to stay rather close to it in a guard-like fashion.

Finally, the last of the four was- wait, it couldn't have been- Sir Meta Knight? The Star Warrior who tried to do away with me all those years back? Could it really be him? I couldn't believe it- Meta Knight was still alive. But what could this mean? Was Magolor seeking his help, along with that from the others? The Crown must've known this, but it refused to tell us a whisper.

This point forward, we traced every one of these four's movements (or at least what we could see of them) from afar. From what I could tell with my own mind and the Crown's, they were completely unaware of our presence. Until a bit later, when we came across what I thought upon first glance was an ordinary chunk of scrap metal. We landed beside it, and then it looked…somewhat familiar- very much like the metal structure talking to me when I had no interest, back on day one at Nightmare Enterprises. Perhaps Nightmare deployed several of them here in Halcandra to wreak even further havoc…although I had not a clue what they could do when it came to clashing warriors. And from what I could tell with my scarce knowledge of technology, this one seemed to have a broken system. But there was no way for me tell for sure, although the Master Crown seemed to know.

We then heard footsteps against the corroded metal ground loudening. The Crown was alerted, but we didn't fly away just yet. Instead, we hovered above the fallen mech, which then started…glowing. I never found out why though, as we were forced to flee a second later. I never set wing in that alien world of mechanical works again.

The next thing I knew was that we were soaring above the badlands of a world of fire and rocks. It brought back memories of visiting this place for the first time, before it reached such an unpleasant state of molten pits and blazing rivers in all directions. We found ourselves a place to roost on the side of Haldera Volcano, watching for any movements. It was another long waiting game before our eyes caught any; Meta Knight and his crew. Now I could tell they were up to something…only, what was it? Like before, the Master Crown kept silent. We continued to watch them as they slowly approached the volcano and vanished into a giant crack in the ground. The Master Crown finally spoke up and took this as a warning. From here, we took to the skies once more, this time heading to the peak of Haldera.

There was yet another long waiting game of standing on the volcano's rim, waiting for anything to happen. Yes, anything at all. I might as well call these waiting games a horrible punishment, perhaps for all the lives I took in the past. How I deeply regretted falling for Galacta Knight's words; I was all too worried about Lucky losing his life…

At last, the bright star carrying the four travelers appeared on the other side of the volcano as it took them into its crater. The four landed on a spare patch of rock in the very center of Haldera's swirling magma pool. It was now or never time for a fight as we calmly flew into the crater, let out a false roar and confronted them from above...

…But then, out of nowhere, as the quartet gazed at us without fear, there was another "roar" and a painful pulse surrounding us, and then…pitch black.

At the moment, I had not a clue why this happened. It was as if my eyesight was taken away with a heartbeat. All I knew was that we were engaged in battle. Pain struck at us blindly as we spat fire, swung our tail, beat our wings furiously and charged at our invisible victims. I couldn't tell at all if any of it did a thing. Shortly after, there was another pulse of harsh pain, mainly targeting my eyes, along with another false roar. I then felt our body split into our four separate selves, and the fight only went on further. Pain continued to torture me in the blind darkness as I heard electrical buzzes, metallic slashes, and our own throats clogged with forcefully enraged flames. At one point, something touched my wing that felt hotter than the chains in which demons once wrapped my neck and feet, burning it. Several more buzzes, and we joined back up into one dragon. From here, it didn't last much longer…one sharp hit to the face, and a harsh tension surrounded our whole body. We were forced to split back up as all four of us collapsed. And then there was the moment of truth…

After a nearing eternity, the Master Crown finally separated from my head. We were no longer the royal, majestic, brave, beloved Guardian Angel of a world of fire, rocks and mechanical works.