Kai and Cole spent the next few minutes just holding in each other's arms as the servants danced and celebrated at their feet. A few such as Shade, Harumi, and Neuro had already left to their respective workstations for the night. As they finally pulled apart, Kai looked like he wanted to say something to the prince, something he had been meaning to say for a while, when suddenly the entire tower started to shake. Everyone froze as the tremor subsided.
At first, they all thought it was an earthquake, that is until another tremor hit, occupied by the sound of piano keys.
Instead of fading, however, the shaking only got more and more violent as the music grew louder. Cole vaguely recognized the sound as Beethoven's 5th Symphony, but no didn't seem time to worry about that.
"What is this? What's going on?" Nelson cried in fear as the entire prison tower shook violently.
"I don't know!" Tox shrieked as the tremors caused the room to crumble and chunks to fall from the ceiling.
"Hurry now, hurry!" Zane shouted as he tried to get everyone out of the road of the falling debris. Cole had to push Kai away seconds before a large rock impaled the spot where the brunette once stood. Kai could only look around in complete shock and fear as the dungeon around him was being reduced the rumble and his friends screamed and ran around, looking for an escape.
"Can you believe I never took a lesson?" A voice crackled through the entire castle as the music boomed. Cole's eyes widened in horror and anger, recognizing the voice almost instantly. Before he could do anything, however, the floor between him and Kai separated.
"Cole!" Kai shouted as he and the others were forced to back up against the far wall to stop themselves from falling into the seemingly bottomless pit.
"Kai!" Cole shouted back, but he knew there wasn't much he could do. The cell was too small and unstable to fly over. His best bet was to find the source of this dark magic and stop it before Kai or anyone else got hurt. He knew there was only one organ big enough to produce this much noise, with or without magic. He burst out of the cell and flew madly through the castle until he came to a room down the hall from his bedroom. He flew through the doors and snarled when he saw the old pipe organ with familiar black magic pouring out of it.
"YOU!" He roared with more fury than he had ever felt.
"Greetings your highness! I hope you like the song!" He mocked cruelly. "You can remain as you are forever and ever!" The disembodied voice laughed evilly as the music started up again.
"Enough!" Cole shouted as he charged at the organ, intending to destroy it. Before he could, however, the madman blasted him with some kind of music magic, knocking him into the wall...
Back in the falling dungeon, Kai somehow managed to place one of the few fallen roof beams across the crack in the dungeon floor and began to lead everyone across the floor. They could hear Cole trying to stop the music, but when he went quiet, Kai feared the worst. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he just knew that he had to get down there and see what he could do to help stop this attack. He would give it everything he had to stop this.
Kai may not be half-dragon like Cole or have any real supernatural powers, but that didn't mean he was going to stay in this crumbling tower like some kind of damsel in distress.
The first thing he had to do was get his friends to safety before he went charging into some kind of battle.
"Be careful." He warned the servants and they all thankfully made it across the crack with little trouble. Once they were all safe, they all dashed towards the source of the music to try and help the hybrid prince. As they ran, Jay, Tox, and Nelson all froze by their master's bedroom as the others carried on. The door was wide open and they had a clear view of the room and the enchanted candle. The shaking had almost knocked the flicking candle off the table it was resting on.
"The candle!" Nelson cried in horror. If that candle went out or was damaged in any way, any hope of becoming human again would be destroyed along with it. When they said they would be ok with staying with the curse, they were only trying to comfort Kai and themselves. But now that they knew that there was still a chance of Kai lifting the curse, they didn't want to lose it again.
"I've got it! I've got it!" Tox shouted as she shot forward and caught the candle just before it hit the floor. Unfortunately, the tremors were still too strong for them to safely put the candle back in its resting spot. They would have to wait and hope Kai and Cole stopped this attack soon...
When Kai and the others made it to the room where the music for coming from, they all froze at what they saw. The dark magic had warped the pipe organ into a monstrous creation as dark magic and music thundered and boomed from the twisted pipes. Cole lay on his back a few feet from them, completely motionless. For a brief moment, Kai thought the Dragon Lord was dead. Just then, Cole groaned in pain as he rolled over onto his front but was still too out of it to stand up.
Kai sighed in relief, but the moment was short-lived as the organ released another burst of power.
This caused more cracks and chucks to fall from the walls and ceilings, and the statues to break and shatter. Without thinking, Kai rushed to Cole's side in an effort to protect him. The servants attempted to follow, but the organ shot them all back. As Kai tried to wake Cole up, a peal of deep, evil laughter suddenly came out of the organ. This caused Kai to freeze before he growled and faced the instrument of destruction, recognizing the laughter.
As he did this, no one noticed Cole slowly start to regain consciousness.
He opened his eyes to the sight of Kai standing protectively in front of him before the giant organ.
"Well, well, well, the prized slut had finally arrived! I would have thought you'd have frozen to death in that cell!" The sorcerer cackled and Cole growled lowly at Kai being called a prized slut. "I don't understand why you would care so much for a monster who imprisoned both you and your siblings but also cut you off from everything you knew and loved and then threw you in a freezing, filthy dungeon just because you wanted to have a little bit of fun." The madman mocked and Kai hesitated for a second.
He hadn't forgiven Cole for those first three things, but he was getting there.
After spending so much time with the prince, he now understood that Cole was a good man underneath all those scales and anger. He was just lonely and desperate to find someone to break this horrible curse. Now Kai may care about Cole and the others, but he couldn't promise them that he could break the curse this sorcerer had put on them. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to try.
"You're the only monster here." He snarled at the organ. "Cole may have his faults, but he's a good man inside and I'd rather spend the rest of my life here than let you hurting him anymore you spineless bastard!" He shouted, shocking everyone, Cole mostly. "You're so pathetic that you have to rely on little birds and a rusty piano to do your dirty work! You haven't got the guts to face us yourself!" He laughed bitterly and the sorcerer roared with rage.
"Kai..." Cole muttered in shock and joy, startling the brunette. He didn't know Cole was awake and had heard every word. Before either of them could say a word, the organ suddenly blasted Kai in the back, sending him flying into the far wall. He let out a cry of pain as he crumbled down to his side, not getting up. "KAI!" Cole exclaimed in horror before turning his fury to the instrument. He wanted to destroy it, but he was too busy avoiding the weapon's attacks.
All of a sudden, Zane burst into the battle and charged at the organ.
The sorcerer was so focused on Cole that he didn't have time to react as the yeti punched the cold pipes of the organ. The music stopped and was replaced with a high-pitched, screeching echo that erupted into the entire castle. Everyone cried out in pain as they covered their ears, but this briefly cut off the sorcerer's connection. As Kai opened his eyes were a groan, he looked around and zeroed in on a stone mallet from one of the destroyed statues.
"Cole! The mallet!" He cried and Cole looked to where he was pointing. Knowing what the teen was thinking, he shot forward and grabbed the weapon. The sorcerer tried to stop him, but Cole flew high into the air, successfully dodging the magic with an unknown form of rage and determination. With a mighty roar, Cole launched the mallet at the organ, breaking it and ending the evil music. Once they were sure the tremors had stopped, Tox carefully put the candle back on the table.
After making sure it was secure, she and the others went to check on Kai and Cole.
They were surprised and a little scared to see Cole slamming the stone mallet into the remains of the pipe organ until they were both broken beyond repair. The force of the pipe organ falling ripped a hole in the wall, exposing the room to the cold winter air and the dark woods surrounding the castle. An unearthly shriek echoed from the metal remains as a sickly dark purple mist floated out and up into the shadows of the roof. Everyone in the ruined room was in stunned silence for a moment before Cole let out a shaky breath and turned to Kai.
He wanted to say something, but then he saw how pale the usually tanned teen suddenly was.
His body suddenly fell limp and he fell over coughing and shuddering. Cole caught him and realized that Kai's clothes were still wet from his unexpected swim in the lake. Cole started rubbing his back to help him breathe better, but all the teen could manage was a series of heavy, desperate rasps. When his eyes started to close, Ronin shot forward and slapped him hard across the face, waking him instantly. Cole wanted to break the troll's hand for that, but deep down he knew why he did it.
"Don't you dare go to sleep!" He commanded and started taking off the rest of his wet clothes. "Don't just stand there, help me!" He yelled at Jay and Echo. "We have to get him out of these wet clothes or he'll freeze to death!" He ordered and the couple nodded and started helping him. Cole shook his head to clear his thoughts at the sight of Kai's naked body and stood up. He removed his own shirt and wrapped it around Kai's trembling shoulders.
One of the advantages of being a dragon hybrid was being larger than others, so his clothes wrapped around Kai like a thin blanket.
Ronin felt Kai's forehead and cursed loudly. The teen struggled to stay awake, but his eyelids felt like lead and his body couldn't support his weight.
"Cole we have to get him out the cold, now! He's barely conscious!"
"I know!" Cole snarled, but everyone could sense the terror laced in the prince's voice.
"We got the blankets!" Harumi hollered and started wrapping them around Kai's naked form.
"You four, go and get whatever Neuro has for treating hypothermia and Zane, you take him back to his room," Cole ordered Nelson, Jay, Echo, and Tox as he scooped Kai bridal style in his arms, double-checking to make sure the blankets and coat were wrapped securely around his body, before handing him over to the yeti. Zane adjusted his grip and held the teen as close to his chest as he could to block out the cold. Once Kai was secure, everyone departed to do their separate tasks, leaving Cole alone in the partially destroyed room.
The prince stood there for a second, glaring at the remains of the organ before he made to leave and check on Kai.
But before taking off, he growled furiously and turned to the hole that revealed the woods.
"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU HEAR ME?! I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN AND I'LL RIP YOU LIMB FOR LIMB FOR THIS! I SWEAR IT! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!" He screamed a terrible combination of a declaration of vengeance and the furious roar of a dragon determined to avenge its fallen comrades. With that, he turned around, flapped his wings flew back into the depths of the palace as fast as his wings could fly, roaring in anger and terror the entire way...