ch 25: Past revealed

Sage and Darkiea walked in silence, both of their minds elsewhere. Sage's on the events that just happened and Darkiea's on her heritage. A though on both their minds was how they would be able to beat a demonic goddess and what was at stake should they lose. They both felt the power behind Umbrix's spell and she wasn't even close to full power. The two got home and sat on the couch, Darkiea laying her head against Sage's chest. They just sat there, unmoving. This was all happening so fast, they couldn't wrap their minds around it. The fate of their realms, all realms was on them. Two dragons, barely entering adulthood had to save everyone from a goddess. After a while Milla and Ruskn came in and sat next to them.

"You two alright?" Milla asked.

"This is just so much..." Darkiea said looking at them. "Why did we get chosen for this? Why us?"

"Fate eludes everyone." Ruskn said sighing. "Not even Zan has complete control over it. The fates chose you not him. If I had to guess Zan would have rather had Draco and Luna be the chosen warriors and spared you the torment you are going through now."

"Sadly the fates have clearly chosen differently." Milla said hugging them both. I wish I could take this burden away from the two of you. Your too young to have to deal with this."

"How old were you when Umbreix first appeared?" Sage asked looking at them.

Both Milla and Ruskn fell silent for several minuets before they looked at then.

"The same age as you." Ruskn said quietly. "When the war started we were just younglings doing what we could to help protect everyone from the undead hoards. Keeping watch at night, going days without sleep. Because of our unnatural skill with our weapons we were put in positions that put us in more danger then the average dragon but only because we could survive it easier then most. Then we started getting strange new,devastating powers. Shortly after we started getting visions. We don't know who it was nor does Zan but whoever they were, they were teaching us how to use these new powers. It was scary at first but we came to understand out fate. We were to battle and cast away Umbrix from existence. We were joined by another, Gadzon."

"No one knows where he came from but his powers rivaled our own." Milla continued. "When the three of us met we knew it was time. Using our might we ripped open a portal to Umbrix's stronghold. There was thousands of undead, all of them the souls of our friends and family whom Umbrix slew. The three of us led the charge for her stronghold cutting down the undead in the way. Gadzon told us of a vision he had. Umbrix had a link to the demonic world. Should they be alive when she is slain her soul will escape back there. The link had to be killed shortly before we kill her. If we take too long to kill her another will be chosen as her link."

"Seriously, theres a time limit on killing her." Sage said sighing. "What the hell..."

"Shes defiantly no fool." Darkiea added.

"No shes not." Ruskn said looking up. "Some of our kind had joined her. I doubt this time will be any different. She made one of the her general and link. He was my best friend. His name was Delix. Gadzon knew I would never be able to bring myself to strike him down so he stayed behind to fight him while we made out way to Umbrix."

"You were like me." Sage said looking at him.

"No, in this way you surpass me." Ruskn said looking at him. "You were able to strike down Ruby. In the future you may have to do so again. You need to be ready for that."

"Shes corrupted by that foul demon, it won't be a problem." Sage said nodding. "Shes not Ruby, the Ruby I know anyway."

"You have learned a harsh but necessary lesson." Milla said with a nod."We kept in contact with Gadzon with comm crystals like the ones you all use. The inside of the fortress was shockingly unguarded save for a few living ones she had corrupted. I guess she didn't like the stench of the undead. We cut down anyone in our path on the way to her throne room. When we reached her she was sitting on a throne made out of obsidian and skulls. Not exactly a very royal looking throne to say the least. She wasn't surprised we made it this far. She was well aware of our powers. She offered us a position at her side which we naturally turned down. The battle was fierce but we were able to beat her into submission. She was getting desperate, she could feel her link dieing. She tried to get us to slay her but we had to hold back until Gadzon had killed Delix. In a last ditch effort she used what remained of her strength to lash out at me..."

"The blow connected with her stomach." Ruskn continued. "I felt a life pass but it wasn't Milla's. Neither of us knew at the time but she was carrying a child, our child. When I felt that life fade and saw Milla double over I lost it. I obliterated Umbrix in a single act of rage. I fell right into her plan. With her demonic force gone the undead crumbled as did Delix. I rushed Milla to the healers. It took them hours but they were able to save her life and her ability to reproduce but they said the oods of her being able to carry an egg was very slim. There had been a lot damage from the broken egg shell. Shortly after Zan came to us and granted us immortality."

"I never knew that happened to you." Darkiea said hugging her. "I an so sorry."

"Thank you Darkia." Milla said smiling "Its in the past. Ruskn and I have been trying for ages trying to have another child but we haven't had any luck. We always hope that the next time we try will give us a child. In a way it's only made our relationship stronger. He could easily take any female he wanted but he sticks with me."

"You know I could never leave you." Ruskn said chuckling as he kissed her. "No female would be as fun as you are to torment."

"Oh ha ha. "Milla said playfully rolling her eyes and punching him in the arm.

"Wow if I didn't know any better I would say you two were just as young as we are." Sage said laughing.

"When you've been together as long as we have you have to be able to take a joke." Milla said with a smiled as she nuzzled Ruskn before nipping his neck playfully.

"Don't stress out over this." Ruskn said smiling. "Stress is whats going to kill you here not Umbreix. You are young, your hormones are driving you more then your mind is but your hearts are in the right place. I've see how the two of you look at each other when the other isn't looking."

"The joy you feel when your around each other is more then hormones." Milla said as she leaned against Ruskn's chest. "This is something I can speak from experience about. Do what you want when the time feels right, the rules be damned."

"Well not all of the laws." Ruskn said chuckling. "She means the laws about mating in your home realm."

"Are you telling us to..." Darkiea said blushing deeply under her scales.

"We're not telling you to do anything." Milla said chuckling. "We're just saying that should you two get that itch not to be afraid to scratch it. Just spend time together, strengthen your bond. If you end up mating so be it. You two are going to be fighting a demon goddess. What you two do in private should be the very least of everyone's concerns. I can feel that the bond between the two of you has only grew strong when you were separated."

"How did you know about that?" Sage asked watching them closely.

"We know many things Sage" Ruskn said relaxing. "We have watched you two for some time. How do you think Darkiea got the stone to come to the twilight in the first place?"

"That was you?" Darkiea asked remembering the shadow she saw appear and drop a shimmering stone that opened a gate to the twilight.

"That was indeed me." Milla said with a smile."I wanted you to see there was more then just your home realm. I wanted to give you something to keep you from falling to the darkness Serpetna tried to corrupt you with. Clearly it worked."

"I don't understand, how did you even know about me?" Darkiea asked looking at her. "We didn't know I was a chosen warrior back then."

"I made a promise to someone and I had to keep it." Milla said looking up at the roof. "Thats all I can tell you for the time being. When the time is right I will tell you everything."

"I figured it was something like that." Darkiea said smiling.

"So what now?" Sage asked as he nuzzled Darkiea.

"For now theres not a lot we can do."Ruskn said with a sigh. "Umbrix is going to go into hiding until she can make a rush for her fortress After she was cast away the last time holy seals were set up on the entrances to make it harder for her to get in next time. All we can do is wait for her to set off the seals.. Once she does we try and take her out before she can break past the seals and into the fortress. Once shes inside theres nothing we can do until she recovers her strength fully. During that time she'll use the souls in the veil to resurrect her undead army then use them to harvest more souls to grow the army. Our best bet is to hit her outside of her fort when shes still weak."

"Weak being a relative term." Milla added. "Even in her current state you've seen what she can do."

"Has she been killed before getting into the fortress before?" Sage asked looking at them.

"Once, sadly her link was still alive" Milla said laying against Ruskn. "We know who her link is going to be so we know who to target We kill Ruby and Umbriex and the realms will never be threatened by her again."

"Sounds so easy in theory." Darkiea said chuckling. "Kill someone as skilled as us and charged with demonic power then kill the demon goddess that gave her said powers."

"All while trying to beat the clock of her getting past holy seals and into an impenetrable fortress." Sage added. "Sounds totally doable."

"Yea no kidding." Ruskn said chuckling. "It won't be easy but it can be done. I just hope this time will be the last. It would be nice to live normal lives after all these years."

"Well as normal lives as ours can be. " Milla said chuckling.

"What will happen to us when this is over?" Darkiea asked looking at them.

"Thats entirely up to the two of you." Ruskn answered looking at them. "Some of the warriors lived out the rest of their days in peace as any dragon would hope to. Others chose to take the gift of immortality from Zan for their service and lived as guardians. They traveled the realms protecting those who were weak until the grew tired of their existence and asked Zan to take them to the afterlife. In reality after this is over you are free to do whatever you want."

"You mentioned immortality, what is it like to be immortal?" Sage asked.

"Immortality is a double edged sword to be sure." Milla said looked up at the roof. "You live forever unless something kills you but the flip side is that you have to watch all those you care about age and die while you stay the same. For those who have done the binding ritual that can be very painful unless both sides are able to become immortal. There have even been times where Zan has used immortality to curse someone, binding them to the mortal plane for all eternity. As far as I know he has only done this four times in his existence. It is a punishment reserved for the most vile being."

"I don't know if I want that." Sage said before nuzzling Darkiea. "Then again being able to spend eternity with Darkiea would be worth it."

When he said that all Darkiea could do was blush, it was so bright she could have sworn they could see it through her scales.

"We both though the same when Zan offered us immortality." Ruskn said chuckling. "Neither of us regret our decision."

"You won't have to decide right away." Milla said smiling. "He will give you all the time you need to decide. We took several years before we became immortal. Its not something you just decide."

"We did it shortly after we did this." Ruskn said showing them the binding mark his his hand, Milla doing the same.

"You two did the binding ritual." Darkiea said smiling. "Its so rare to see that anymore."

"My parents did it years back before I was even though of." Sage said chuckling.

"Are you two going to do it?" Ruskn asked knowing he was going to catch them off guard.

As soon as he asked that they both blushed deeply and looked at each other before quickly looking away blushing even deeper.

"Your evil Ruskn." Milla said laughing hard. "Ignore him you two, hes just being an ass."

"Just having a little fun." Ruskn said chuckling. "In all seriousness, don't feel you have to. The binding ritual isn't something to take lightly. The death of one often leads to the death of the other. Your father faced that after the fight with Malefor, Sage."

"What do you mean?" Sage asked looking at him.

Ruskn and Milla looked at each other before looking back at him.

"Sage what we're about to tell you does not leave this room." Milla said sternly. "The truth is your mother died from a last, desperate attack by Malefor. Your father was preparing to take his own life before Lena and Flail stopped him. Zan brought her back shortly after and gave them all immortality."

"I never knew that." Sage said looking at them. "Is the bond truly that powerful?"

"It really is." Milla said smiling as she looked at the mark on her hand. "It binds the soul of the lovers together. Its a feeling that you have to feel to understand. Explaining it doesn't do it justice. You feel complete, never alone, like you lover is always with you. You feel what they do. Now imagine if all of that is suddenly gone, the feeling of half of your soul ripped away."

"That sounds truly horrible." Darkiea said as looked at them. "I see why so few do it."

"Those that do are said to love each other forever." Ruskn said chuckling as he put his marked hand on Milla's. "We're proof of that."

"Alright thats enough for today." Milla said chuckling. "You two need to get some sleep."

"You sound like my mom." Sage said chuckling as he got up and streched. "Kinda hard to argue, I am beat."

"Yea some rest sounds good." Darkiea said getting up. "Thanks for talking with us."

"Any time." Ruskn said putting an arm around Milla. "We are your teachers, don't be afraid to come ask to talk to us. Be it about training, history, relationship advice, anything."

"We'll keep it in mind." Darkiea said chuckling as they headed up to their rooms.

"Went back to separate rooms." Milla said as the doors shut. "Perhaps I was wrong about how close they were..."

"Just give it a bit." Ruskn said nuzzling his mate. "Habit is a hard thing to break. Neither of them have rested well since the night at the hotel. Sage wasn't in a normal meditative state today, it was the same way they sleep."

"Darkiea was pretty much the same." Milla replied as she looked up at the doors. "Think tonight will be the breaking point?"

"Oh yea."Ruskn said chuckling. "Tired plus the stress of today.

The two washed up and headed to bed. Sage stretched out on his bed. Unfortunately for him no matter how he laid, turned his pillow, position the blankets, he couldn't get comfortable. He even tried getting under his mattress, nothing worked. He let out a growl as he grabbed one of his pillows and threw it across the room. It was about that time there was a knock on his door. It was quite enough that it wouldn't have woke him if he was asleep but loud enough to hear awake.

"It's open." He yelled watched the door.

After a moment the door opened revealing Darkiea. She had on a beautiful crystal cloth robe on.

"I didn't wake you did I?" Darkiea asked as she stepped in and closed the door.

"Na I can't get comfortable." Sage said as he used a spell to pull the thrown pillow back.

"Same here." Darkiea replied chuckling as she sat next to him. "Don't know what it is tonight."

"Well it is a half moon tonight." Sage said sitting up as he looked out his window. "I always get twitchy around this time but this is something else."

"I haven't slept well in the past few days." Darkiea said as she leaned against him, laying her head on his shoulder. "I guess I just can't replicate that feeling back at the hotel."

"I know, I never slept that well in my life." Sage said chuckling. "You know if you want you can sleep in here with me. Just let me-"

Before Sage could finish Darkiea was already pulling up the blankets to get in, only to find that unlike her, he wore nothing when he slept. "Oh..."

Before Sage could say anything Darkiea threw off her robe and climbed in with him, blushing and smiling the entire time. "Well I wasn't expecting you to do that."

"I normally sleep without clothes anyway." Darkiea said as she cuddled up against him, laying her head on his chest. "This feels even better then the hotel."

"It really does." Sage said as he wrapped his wings around her, pulling her close.

"So what are you going to do when this is over?" Darkiea asked looking up at him.

"I don't really know yet." Sage said with a sigh. "I am focusing on just surviving this mess. What about you?"

"I don't really know either." Darkiea said. "Maybe after this I'll challenge Sepertina for the throne, assuming I haven't killed her by the end of this. My people need a true leader, someone who will push for peace between our races. All that bitch cares about it killing the twilights. Shes nothing but a monster, a blight I intend to remove from my people once and for all."

"I though you hated the rest of the shadow dragons?" Sage asked looking at her.

"I hate what they've become." Darkiea said looking down. "My people can be saved Sage, I know it. Just like my father. I just have to figure out how. I can't let his legacy fade away Sage. I am the daughter of Malefor, not the dark master. Even if I am only half a shadow dragon, I am half of a purple dragon as well. If anyone can bring my people to peace its me. This war has to end Sage."

"I couldn't agree more." Sage said nuzzling her, trying to get her to smile. "When the time comes I could try to become the next guard of the twilight. That position would give me a lot of pull with my people. It could help but I doubt my dad will give up the position any time soon."

"With you as guard and me as queen of shadows peace might just happen." Darkiea said smiling as she nuzzled him. "Would you really do that for me?"

"In a heart beat." Sage said smiling.

The two laid here looking into each other's eyes, everything around them faded away. The only thing they saw were each other. Slowing the distance between them closed, both freezing right before their lips touched, each waiting for the other to make a move. Sage managed to work up the nerve and closed the distance, kissing her. Darkiea murred as she closed her eyes, her arms wrapping around him. The kiss seemed to last forever, time slowing to a stop around them. Reluctantly the two broke the kiss and looked deep into the others eyes.

"What they say about the first time you kiss your mate is true." Darkiea said smiling, blushing slightly.

"You never forget the first time you kiss the one you are meant to be with for the rest of your life." Sage replied as he nuzzled her.

Downstairs Milla and Ruskn were still there, eyes closed, feeling the aura of the couple upstairs.

"Now that brings back memories." Milla said smiling. "Its been a long time since I felt a love as pure and honest as that."

"That it has." Ruskn said chuckling. "I was unsure before but after feeling this. I think this is our best chance at making the prophecy come true."

"A chance to fix our failure." Milla said. "We have to do everything in our power to make sure they survive. Even if we don't."

"Agreed." Ruskn said opening his eyes. "The prophecy must come to pass. This cycle of death must end."

Nope, still not dead. I went on ahead and moved the story up to M rating for this chapter as well as future ones. Sage and Darkiea's bond has deepened and we get a painful part of Ruskn and Milla's past. Immortality can truly be a curse.