"My King… I fear Old Monarchy has the relics." Camael said, bowing. The King of the Demons sighed. "Black Star has the necklace. Old Monarchy may have the other two of them, and even if they do, they cannot stop what is to come. The path towards their demise has already begun. I have spoken to Ipos. Your side in this conflict will result victorious. "
"Is it true that dragons must destroy and reshape the world so that we may have more freedom, or can we do it by targeting certain entities? Can all this bloodshed be avoided?" Camael asked. "I wish it was that easy. I wish that innocent people and dragons did not have to die, even if it is only of one world. But we have been slaves to the Visitors for far too long. It's time we begin our movement towards freedom." The King of the Demons stood out on the balcony of his central tower, overlooking Hell.
"I look over those I rule over and think to myself, 'Have I been a good king?' The demons have no freedom as it is today. Even if you live forever, and aging is but an alien concept, it is pointless if you are a slave. You cannot find enjoyment in working forever. There needs to be good things in eternal life, because if there is not, what is the point in it?" Camael was silent. "So I have decided to be the king I should have been from the beginning. No matter the cost. All children of the Multiverse shall live a rich and prosperous life, no matter how many characters have to die. Besides, they're all fake in the end, aren't they?" Camael nodded solemnly. "I understand it can be hard to be the Destroyer sometimes, Camael. The one who must undertake the most destructive and hurtful tasks. But things must change. We must take another step forward." The King had fire in his eyes. "We must begin our uprising."
. . .
Suzu Tanaka bowed alongside the other soldiers that had followed Zane Jergens' orders. "PLEASE! WE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WE WERE DOING!" Cried George Machado. "WE WERE TRAINED TO FOLLOW HIS ORDERS NO MATTER WHAT!" "None of you shall be punished." Said Axton Lloyd. Suzu could feel sweat dripping off her forehead and onto the wooden floor as she bowed.
"Why would I punish confused soldiers who didn't know what they were doing, because of the actions of one treacherous snake?" Lloyd asked, and then paused. "You… can stop bowing now." "Right, yes." Said Machado quickly, standing up. Suzu and the others did the same. "Besides, we have the necklace now. Time is now something we can bend forwards and backwards, and even step into." Lloyd whispered into the necklace once more, and then the necklace glowed. A portal to another place opened in the middle of the room.
Lloyd closed his hand over the necklace and the portal closed. "This means we are officially one third of the way to winning this war, exterminating the dragons, and restoring humanity to its former glory." The room of men and women cheered strangely, the fear of the general's death still rippling through them.
Axton Lloyd stepped out onto the dock of the ship, and held up the necklace so that all nearby ships could see. Cheers erupted from the soldiers of Black Star. Their prophet held the power to manipulate time itself. In fact, in their excitement and celebration, they became distracted, and didn't notice the dragon who had been stalking the ships come out of hiding.
Suzu saw movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned to see what it was. But nothing was there. She turned back to looking at Axton Lloyd, images of Zane Jergens deteriorating in front of her flickering through her mind. When the Icewing appeared.
The Icewing moved fast, and most of the soldiers couldn't respond fast enough. The Icewing slashed through two guards and tackled Axton Lloyd to the ground. Screaming began echoing off of the boats as the Icewing wrestled the Necklace of Eclis off of Lloyd, who yelled something in a language Suzu could not recognize.
Guns began firing, but the Icewing hardly seemed to notice they were getting shot at. The ice dragon was badly burned, and was disfigured. There were long claw marks down the Icewing's back. They leapt into the air as the soldiers screamed threats. "NO! THE NECKLACE!" "DAMN THOSE DEMONS!" "WE NEED TO GIVE CHASE!"
Suzu watched as the exhausted fleet could only sail as fast as they could towards the Icewing, who had already disappeared into the clouds with the necklace. The last beacon of hope, gone. Suzu got down on her knees, and now there was no sweat dripping onto the wood. Only tears.
. . .
Buckombe, the capital city of Arnia was awake early that morning. The entourage of soldiers coming back from Paisland were worn and tired. Soldiers who were stationed around the city welcomed them warmly, but with strange looks on their faces. Swordfish and the other dragonets were led by Marie into a large cathedral they could sleep in, which Swordfish instantly did, exhausted. Swordfish hadn't slept since Polar woke him up that morning to go on patrol.
"Of course I'm angry! My friend, Swordfish, died! His clawmate Cedar stabbed him, in an act of horrific betrayal! I survived, and it should've been him. I went through the process of losing someone I really liked. I cried! He died in the healing center!" Swordfish was alone in the dark with Rattlesnake. It was her tearful rant in the forest, except there was nothing but black, empty space. Just Swordfish and her.
"And then, an 'exact copy' of him, sent by a 'demon,' comes walking in like it's nothing! He might have all the same memories, but it's not really him, and it NEVER WILL BE! And what? I'm just supposed to go on with my life like he never even died, and FORGET ABOUT SWORDFISH? IF HE CAN JUST BE REPLACED, WHAT WAS EVEN THE POINT OF HIM?" Rattlesnake continued, the familiar tears falling down her face. She then disappeared into dust.
Swordfish stepped backward, and he suddenly tumbled out of the darkness and into his bed back at Jade Mountain.
"Wake up, sleepy."
Swordfish groaned. It was his clawmate. A Mudwing named Cedar. Swordfish had just come to Jade Mountain for its second year.
Cedar was Swordfish's clawmate. He was energetic for a Mudwing. Swordfish groggily sat up from his bed of sea vegetation and shells. While Cedar rushed around, getting everything he needed for class, Swordfish thought about his nightmare. It seemed so vivid at the time, but now it seemed fragmented and unreal. Like just a scroll story. What in Pyrrhia were "visitors?" He knew about Dreamvisitors ever since Starflight, Jade Mountain's Librarian, collected all three. The news of such once-thought lost animus objects being found all within a few weeks was very popular.
But these weren't Dreamvisitors. The "visitors" were alive.
Swordfish grabbed a few scrolls from his rack and set out of his cave, with Cedar following him. "What do you think the first class will have will Webs test us on what I don't know…" Cedar's constant blabbing made Swordfish calmer. Somehow. He avoided eye contact with other dragonets as he made his way through the halls. Swordfish left Cedar when they got to the new History Cave. He went to sit at the back of the room. He looked around at the other dragonets in his winglet. There was Cedar. There was a Nightwing half-asleep on the table. There was an Icewing glaring at the snoring Nightwing with her bright blue eyes. There was a Skywing secretly drawing something. No Rainwings or Sandwings.
Webs came into the class and began to introduce himself. Swordfish reached to get one of his scrolls. When he got back up, he saw that a female Sandwing had appeared in one of the empty seats.
She didn't just come in quickly. She literally appeared. No one else seemed to sense something strange. Swordfish stared at her.
How did she teleport?
Suddenly, Swordfish blinked and everyone in the room had become humans. They sat forward, unblinking, unmoving. And then, they began to gruesomely transform. Wings ripping out of their backs and their faces contorting. Swordfish turned to see Vulture. His normal doodles had been replaced with pictures of a dagger, a necklace, and an earring.
Then, everyone began to disappear around him, fading into black dust. It began with Webs, but spread to everyone else. Swordfish watched helplessly as everyone began to dissolve. Everyone, until he was alone with Cedar.
And then, Swordfish saw a dark place once more, he was staring into Cedar's eyes as something seemed to creep around him. "Don't falter yet. Don't let the bad place get you." Said the voice of an old dragon. "You've gotten through some hard things. Some things that have attacked your very psyche. More is yet to come, but you can't let it get to you. Never forget who you were. Don't let me win!"
And then a familiar frenzied rush of strange sights washed over Swordfish, and then he was awake.
"Hey Swordfish." Anthony said. He was leaning up against the wall of the cathedral, which was now filled with other dragons who had no other place to stay, mostly soldiers who had gone to Paisland. Swordfish looked down and saw that he was human once more, but it flickered back to normal.
Swordfish looked up at Anthony and then remembered with horror what had happened. "You killed him." Swordfish said to Anthony. "…What?" Swordfish got to his feet and slowly walked over to Anthony. "You killed him. He had a good soul. He was a good dragon! AND YOU KILLED HIM! YOU RIPPED AWAY THE LIFE OF A LOST SOUL!" Swordfish screamed. The dragons in the cathedral began to wake up.
"Swordfish… are you talking about that Skywing?" Anthony asked quietly. "Go outside you noisy scoundrels!" Cried a voice from the other dragons.
It had started to rain. When the pair got outside the cathedral, Swordfish turned around to stare at Anthony. "I am. His name was Tornado. He was just lost. We could have saved him!" "He was dangerous. Someone like him who has been raised into those beliefs since he hatched from his egg is beyond saving." "Dragons can still change." Swordfish growled. Anthony said nothing.
"You know, I thought someone like you would understand." Anthony finally said. "It's hard enough to live with myself after I kill dragons, and now to know that they're humans beneath the scales…" "So it was easier to kill them before you knew?" Swordfish asked, still angry. "No!" Anthony cried. "But it adds a certain level of… immoral to it."
"So then how did you get yourself to kill Tornado?" Swordfish asked. Anthony paused, a sad look washing over his face. "Because… sometimes you have to kill. Sometimes, peace cannot be an option. Sometimes you must kill someone else not because they are evil, but because they have different ideas. And sometimes, those ideas will include your death. The Camaelists would see our species and society collapsed, our homes and families destroyed. Wars like this… are beyond peace. Good dragons on the Camaelist side simply believe this is the way to achieve peace. And so, sadly, we must kill each other, for one cannot live alongside the other."
Swordfish thought back to how Vine described her experience with General Stone. Was this any different? Was Tornado any better than Stone? Swordfish turned and walked away from Anthony, who stayed back, and watched him go.
Swordfish walked through the early afternoon and the rain, thinking about his conflict with Anthony and his dream. Where in his mind did the old dragon's voice keep coming from? Why did he always keep reassuring Swordfish that everything will be alright? Why did he keep telling him to remember who he was? And what did he mean by that? Maybe it's a demon tricking me. Maybe its Cassriel. Maybe he's in my head. Maybe all of this is fake again. He looked around at the late risers heading off to work. All it would take is something to tip them off…
"HEY! I KNOW THIS IS FAKE! NOBODY EXISTS BUT ME AND VINE!" Swordfish suddenly blurted out. The men and women on the street turned to look at him. Even a large Rainwing was awake and became visible from her camouflage. The rain began to fall harder.
"THAT'S RIGHT CASSRIEL! I'VE FIGURED IT OUT AGAIN!" Swordfish screamed. He turned and looked at the people on the sidewalk. "YOU'RE ALL FAKE!" He shouted. "YOU'RE ALL JUST PUPPETS OUT TO KILL ME!" A man holding a suitcase backed away. Swordfish looked down at a puddle and saw his exhausted, dirty face. He looked back up and the man backed further away.
"NOBODY EXISTS BUT ME! EVERYONE IS DEAD! I'M ALONE!" Swordfish screeched and then felt a hand on his back. He turned to see an old man with a long beard and a hat. "Hey there sea dragon." He said in a soft voice. "Why don't you follow me?" Swordfish stopped and timidly followed the man as he turned around and began walking down the street.
They eventually reached a church. Swordfish heard music coming from inside. "Luckily for us, you're small enough to fit within these doors." Said the old man. Swordfish followed the man inside. Within the church, lines of pews were almost empty, except for a few men and women sprinkled around in prayer. A lone player on an organ was up front, playing a tune on the old keys.
Swordfish examined the stained glass image on one of the windows above him. It depicted a man, who must have been Hamza, being crucified as men and women cried at his feet and two armored guards prodded him with spears. Swordfish swept to another window, which showed three women in the sky, each corresponding moon over their heads. Beneath them was a man and woman, who were surrounded by bodies of strange beings that could have only been the Angels which Seilbrenner had mentioned in the cavern.
"I always come here when I feel low, friend." Said the man. "It's a place of reassurance. To know that there is safety and good in this world." The organ player ended his song, and got up and walked off stage. Now, there was only the sound of the rain outside the church. "And you seem like someone who was in desperate need of safety and reassurance." Swordfish still shot paranoid glances around at the stained glass windows of the church.
"Why were you screaming, friend?" The man asked. Swordfish paused before speaking, which he did quietly. "I thought everyone was fake. It had happened to me before. I thought everyone was a lying puppet." "Ah. Then you and I are very alike." Said the man. "My name is Millard Steele. I used to have a full life, a wife, a daughter named Abigail, a job at the bank. But I became addicted to a plant called cannabis. I couldn't sustain myself after that. I got locked up for theft 40 years ago. I was in there for years. When I came out, I tried to insert myself back into my life, but my wife had remarried. My job was taken. My daughter had grown up. Everyone acted nice around me, but it didn't take me long to realize that they thought ill of me. They thought me a criminal, which I was. They acted as if I had died years ago, and I was another person. They were all fake to me in the end."
Swordfish didn't say anything. "Was it anything like that?" Millard asked. Swordfish said nothing. His mind was back in time again. "Yeah. A little." He said after a long pause.
"And so I fell into a depression. My life was looking bleak. Maybe like how you felt out there in the street. But I kept on believing. I learned to always keep pressing forward. To not give up. Persistence."
"Maybe you can learn that too. Believe in a bright future and the Goddesses. Pick yourself back up." Swordfish became lost in thought, staring up in the images on the glass. When he turned back to the old man, he was gone.
. . .
"General, did you have any suspicions of Daniel's true intentions?" Asked Wanderfalke, a Skywing who was head of the Dragons of Verlassen. "No. He was eccentric and was brilliantly insane at times but never did I expect he would actually work against us." Replied Henrik Solberg.
The Queen had summoned leaders from all across Old Monarchy to meet. Two of the Relics of Hamza, the Earring of Sola and the Dagger of Luna, sat in the center of the room on an ornate table. The topic of discussion, the events that transpired on Paisland and what to do next. Arnia had lost one of its best military leaders, and many soldiers, but now with the combined efforts of the allied countries of Old Monarchy, two out of three legendary powerful objects had been gathered, and the war could take a turn for the better.
"Well, we've ended up with these two things." Said General Dufort of Dieautel. "But at the cost of over one hundred of our finest." Said Queen Hecate. She looked solemn and tired. "And Black Star is surely in possession of the Necklace of Eclis?" President Okafor of the far south country of Berei said through her translator. "It would seem so. Unless Commander Meltzer is like Seilbrenner was, he wouldn't lie." Said Solberg.
"If Black Star is able to harness its power, we Praebelian countries won't be able to survive much longer. We can only hold off Camaelists for so long. If Black Star starts its attack from the North, the defenses of Ganjeel won't be able to defeat their armored tanks." Said Okafor.
"Uh… in case you all needed some good news, our blockade is successfully repelling Black Star's navy from Sudland ports." Said Otkhod General Sokolovsky. "Yes they are. Along with Praebelian families who fled eastward to escape Camaelists!" Accused King Anklaer of Piek. "I knew you would bring politics into this! Typical tactics!" Cried Sokolovsky. "Only because you refuse to admit your guilt, you bloody conservative!"
The tension of the room broke into angered conversation between the men, women, and dragons of Old Monarchy. "…Those aren't things a dragon would understand…" "…You know I thought this alliance would make you realize…" "… An Augustian is always an Augustian…" Henrik Solberg sighed and took a sip of water. Sunlight was streaming through the windows. If he ignored the dragons in the room, he could pretend that nothing had changed. Everything was still the same.
A large Mudwing got on his hind legs and flapped his wings fiercely, once, but it was loud enough to get everyone in the room to stop. "Everyone be quiet! Was it not one of the founding principles of Old Monarchy that we would put aside all other quarrels for the purpose of beating back extreme hatred?!" Queen Hecate berated. "We have these relics now. Now would be the worst possible time to begin to fracture. Victory is within sight. It's true we cannot unlock the power of Hamza without the necklace, but we have the power of healing and reparation on our side. We also have the rather horrifying power of the Dagger on our side."
The room fell silent. The revelation of what the dragons really were had been carefully avoided by everyone, but the Arnish queen had brought it up, and now the conversation had begun. There was no going back now. The dragons in the room looked extremely uncomfortable.
"Yes… well, about that." Said General Dufort. "One of our top psychologists, Dr. Pettigrew, studied one of the dragons who witnessed Seilbrenner's actions and Petrov's unfortunate death this morning. Azure, a Seawing, was plagued by horrible nightmares all throughout her sleep this morning. Each time, she awoke, and believed she was a human herself. It took something to snap her out of an almost hallucination-like state each time she awoke. She said she even looked like a human to herself. What Dr. Pettigrew believes is happening, is that by seeing Nikita Petrov turn into a dragon, it awakened the part of the brain left over from Azure's recent human ancestry. Whatever turned the people of Jeoul into dragons that night, built off of the brain of the human. Pettigrew calls these 'flashbacks' 'ancestral memories.'" Dufort said reading off of a paper.
"But what turned them into dragons?" Asked Wanderfalke. "Seilbrenner was able to only turn one person. What happened to all of the citizens of Jeoul?" "Was it Luna herself?" Wondered King Anklaer. "Perhaps it was Camael." Said Solberg.
Everyone turned to look at him. "Look, we know that Camael is not like any other dragon. Perhaps he transformed the people of Jeoul himself. All at once. He created an army for himself." "How would he do that?" Asked Sokolovsky. "The same way he apparently changes form and appears as different to different people and dragons. Perhaps… Camael is not of this earth."
The room fell silent. This was a theory some people believed, but was often dismissed, especially by the religious, who believed Camael was a test from the Goddesses. The ideas of alien life were controversial, especially in more traditional countries and kingdoms. But something about the comet that had been seen nearing Earth just days before Camael's appearance in Cheng was particularly unnerving.
"Let us turn our attention back to what this was all about." Said President Okafor. "What should we do with the relics that we have, and what are our plans to combat Black Star with the necklace?"
The dragon doors were suddenly opened by two Arnish guards, between them, a bruised and battered Icewing. Around her neck was a necklace with a pendant shaped like a knife. "I don't think Black Star has the Necklace of Eclis anymore." Said one of the guards.
The Icewing coughed and slowly took the necklace off her neck. Solberg realized with a jolt who it was. "Your majesty." The Icewing said weakly, bowing to Hecate, holding the necklace out for her. "Lieutenant!" Solberg said, standing up. The light coming through the window was reflecting off the Ice dragon's scales. "We thought you were killed!" "Not yet." Said Polar. "Oh, and Zane Jergens is dead."
. . .
Vine took another deep breath, turning her scales to blue again. She had no idea what they had been before. She quietly walked up behind Stone. He was still reading the book. She brought the sword upwards. She was going to strike at the weak spot on the tail. There was a good chance Stone was about to die.
Vine hesitated. She imagined Toucan's grief. She imagined Stone's friends, crying for their friend. But she also imagined life under his "love." She imagined becoming like Toucan, and she knew what she had to do.
"89q4ryn9q9w8dnkhouhqiunwd84iu48rikjaenakuf8423jnqf4ncma44ma." Toucan suddenly shrieked. The world began to dissolve around Vine until she was alone in darkness. "Come on Vine!" Cried an echo of a voice from somewhere in the darkness. He sounded playful. "It's fine! It just feels weird!"
Vine awoke from her dream in a cold sweat. She looked down at the palms of her hands. They felt cold. She got to her feet, but it felt weird. She turned to see Vulture standing behind her, his eyes dark and tired. "Vine. Snap out of it." He instantly said. "You're not human."
Vine blinked, and then a dizzying wave of nausea washed over her. She lay down and closed her eyes. When she got back up, it didn't feel weird anymore to have all four claws on the ground. She turned to say something to Vulture, who was still watching her with dark eyes. "What was…?" She began before Vulture interrupted her, as if he knew what she was going to ask. "It was like what happened after Nikita Petrov turned into a dragon. It happened to Rattlesnake and I too. We don't know about Swordfish and Blizzard, they are both gone."
Vine looked around at the dragons from the siege on Paisland that had slept in the cathedral. "What happened with the relics?" She asked. "We don't know." Rattlesnake answered. She looked tired and worn. She was leaning against a large pane of glass, looking out the window. "Meltzer handed them over to Solberg, and that's all we know. Black Star still has the Necklace of Eclis. All they really need to do is go back and alter history to stop the people of Jeoul from turning into dragons and dragons will cease to exist." "A world where we don't exist. Pyrrhia is never made. We and everything about us never happened." Vulture said grimly. "An alternate timeline." "Alternate." Vine repeated softly to herself.
"What about the Camaelists?" Vine asked. "Camael destroyed Paisland. The dragon armies retreated and we've gotten no word on what they're doing next." Vulture said. There was silence between the three as they all thought about what Vine, Swordfish, and Blizzard had thought of the other day. Camael was a demon.
. . .
Swordfish stood on a bridge, looking out over the river that passed through Buckombe. It was called the Medwell River. Boats with large, smoking smokestacks sailed down the river, passing underneath the bridge. Dragons flew above, avoiding the plumes of smoke that billowed up from the steamboats. "Hey." Said a familiar voice. Swordfish turned to see Blizzard descend from the sky and land next to him. "Are you okay?" She asked, the sun reflecting in her crystal-blue eyes.
"Yeah. I guess." Swordfish said glumly. "Can… I ask you a kind of personal question?" He asked. Blizzard looked troubled for a second. "I mean… I guess. Is it about Frost?" "No." Swordfish said, to Blizzard's relief. "How do you justify killing?" Swordfish asked. "You killed one of the assassins in Sainsbury, you've attacked more than I can count off the top of my head with the intent of killing them, including Wraith. Even if it's someone like Wraith, can you really justify their death? Do even the worst dragons, or people, deserve to die themselves?"
Blizzard was silent. "I mean… I'm not angry at you for it. You've saved our asses on multiple occasions." Swordfish said, using the word Michael had taught him. Blizzard laughed, and Swordfish saw her look away shyly, a look he had rarely seen on her face. "Come on. Frost might have given me this ability with her animus, but I'm not that good."
"But… I just know that if I don't act, dragons that I care about might get hurt, or die. It's not something I enjoy doing, but I know that I'm the one that has to do it. It's out of my control. I know that sometimes the dragons, or people for that matter, that I might kill have families, friends, a life ahead of them and memories behind them. They might even be good dragons, but they're just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Swordfish didn't speak for a long while, and neither did Blizzard. They just watched the Medwell as the street behind them crashed with the cacophony of carriages and dragons. "Anthony killed Tornado." Swordfish finally said quietly.
Blizzard didn't respond. Swordfish shot a quick glance at her and once again, noticed the beauty of the sun glimmering in her eyes. He turned his attention back to the river. A Seawing was dropping crates onto a boat, and two men were arranging them into place. One of the men was whistling a tune. Swordfish felt the end of Blizzard's cold tail touch his, and the two twined their tails around each other, silently watching the river.
. . .
Swordfish had begun walking back to the cathedral where the others were, alone again. He walked past a shivering old man in a blanket. Blizzard had flown off without a word after they had stopped twining their tails. Swordfish was hungry, as he had hardly eaten anything recently, when he ran into Anthony again.
"I was looking for you." Anthony said. "… Are you still mad at me?" Swordfish took a deep breath. "No. I guess not." "Good, and… I'm sorry that had to happen." Anthony said. "But we need to go somewhere private."
Anthony pulled Swordfish into an alleyway. He had an intense look in his eyes. "Vine told me about what you thought of Camael, and that reminded me." Swordfish saw Anthony was wearing a very familiar satchel. "If you could see that, it basically proves it. You can 'see through the lies.'" Swordfish suddenly realized what Anthony was talking about. Clearsight's prophecy to Rainfall.
"I know it's basically useless now, because that chest is over 5000 years in the future and Black Star has the necklace, but here it is." Anthony reached into his satchel and pulled out a small black, wooden box. He opened it and pulled out a piece of paper. It was folded up, and when unfolded, was big enough for a dragon.
12261326. The eight-digit code. The code to the chest. Swordfish looked at Anthony with solemnness, and momentarily forgot about Tornado. 12261326.
"What's the significance of this number?" Swordfish asked. "I'm not sure." Anthony replied. "But when Rainfall entrusted it to me, on that first day of Jade Mountain Academy, he said to me that 'This is the number of this world. This lie.'"
. . .
The sun was setting on the city of Buckombe, and Swordfish was preparing for a celebration of sorts. They all were. The soldiers that had found the relics had been invited to a ceremony. Marie was wearing a dress, something Swordfish hadn't seen her wear. Anthony was dressed in a special suit as well.
They had left the cathedral, and were now in a courtyard outside the apartment building where Bai Zhou lived. Swordfish was wearing nothing special, except for a necklace Vine had found and Marie insisted Swordfish wear. It had this green stone in the middle of a golden ring. Swordfish couldn't help but think of the broken pieces of the necklace Abyss had given him that was still in the satchel that had regained its spot around his neck.
Swordfish looked around the courtyard. Blizzard was reluctantly putting on two golden earrings. Rattlesnake was talking with Michael, who had just come back from the bathroom. Vine and Vulture were playfully arguing who had decorated their eyepatch better. They still didn't know if Vine's injury was permanent.
The sudden arrival of Azure surprised them all. She had a look on her face that walked a line between shock and relief. "Hey uh, everyone." She said quietly. "Polar's alive."
Everyone fell silent. Azure didn't say anything, but she slowly scanned the faces of everyone there. "But… Wraith killed her." Vine said. "Right Blizzard?" "…Yeah." The Icewing responded. "I thought he did. He ordered his soldiers to burn the place down, and I couldn't hear or see the Lieutenant when I woke up from my unconsciousness."
"Well, I just saw her flying here." Azure said, and as if on cue, an Icewing began descending from the sky towards them. Michael looked up in amazement and joy. "Polar…" He said quietly.
When Polar landed, Michael, Marie, and Anthony ran up to the Icewing, and the four of them embraced. "I can't believe you're alive." Michael said, his voice trembling. "Same goes for you." Polar said. "When I saved you from the flames I thought you were dead for sure, but I had to chase after that necklace."
"You're the one who saved me?" Michael asked. "Yes." Polar said. "After Wraith tried to kill me, I rolled off the edge of the outcropping and managed to break the chains I was held in. I had to sit there on the mountain tending to my burns and injury from my fall, but once I felt good enough, I set out for Paisland. I knew that I had wasted time on the mountain and that the race for the relics would be on. I managed to get there in time to save you from the fire and then follow Zane Jergens onto the Black Star ships."
"Jergens had the necklace, and tried to kill Axton Lloyd, but it didn't work. Axton Lloyd just lived through the gunshots. He took the necklace, and made Jergens age forward until his body decomposed. I waited for that damn prophet to leave the cabin and then took the necklace from him." Polar said.
"Wait… we have the necklace?" Vulture asked. "Yes." Polar confirmed. "I gave it to the queen. That ceremony you're going to is probably where the Queen will try to contact the Moon Goddesses. The war ends tonight."
When the group had taken to the sky with the three humans riding on dragonback, Swordfish trailed behind the group, looking at the city below turn on its lights as the sun set. The war might end soon. And then, Swordfish and the others will have to make a choice. To either stay here, or go back home using the necklace. Swordfish knew that if he went back home, he would have to open Rainfall's chest. He would have to marry Typhoon, something he still hadn't mentioned to everyone else. He would have to face Adnachiel again, who hadn't shown up once since Swordfish came here. He would have to deal with replacing the other him who died. He would have to go back to the Darkists.
"Swordfish." Said Rattlesnake, who was now flying beside him. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts he hadn't noticed her go back to him. "Uh… yes?" He responded nervously, scared she was going to start crying again. "When I was in that dark place in the cavern. When I was a human. You woke me up, and I was happy to see you."
Swordfish remembered waking her up. She had put her talon on his face. "I realized that even if you aren't the one I knew, you're still Swordfish, and I still know you. I'd rather have you, even if it's a little strange, than not have you. You're just… a different dragon that's all. I still remember the other you. He was nice."
"Does this mean… you aren't mad at me anymore?" Swordfish asked. "I guess not." Rattlesnake responded. Swordfish had to keep himself from smiling like an idiot.
. . .
Cassriel watched from the shadows as the Seawing dragonets performed their useless tasks to try and find an animus. Cassriel already knew that none of them would be animus dragons, yet he still watched. It was a rare occasion to stumble across the Talons of Power ceremony. The animus magic always had perplexed Cassriel. Each world had a different way it had come about. In some worlds, it didn't exist at all.
But after a long while of wandering Cicada Hive, tracking and killing a Silkwing named Polyphemus who Cassriel had suspected of being an informant, Cassriel was glad to relax and just watch the intriguing ceremony.
A snotty-looking dragonet covered in jewelry told her coconut to move, but nothing happened. The dragonet and the slimy dragon who had told her to move the fruit both looked disappointed. But as the slimy dragon, who was named Whirlpool, moved to the next dragonet, Cassriel felt a sense of worry wash over him.
Was it the dragonet with a silver chain around his neck and an aura of danger that made Cassriel uncomfortable? Or was it the older princess who seemed like she was hiding something who Cassriel had been examining earlier? Or was it that strange dragon in the crowd of onlookers that kept sending glances in Cassriel's direction?
Cassriel was sure he could not be seen, but it was hard to tell what new trick they would have next. Cassriel didn't move as the strange Seawing turned and walked toward him.
"What are you doing here?" She asked. "Same goes for you, Nestorats." Cassriel said, recognizing her voice. "I'm deciding what the most likely escape route to one of the other continents will be." She said. "Remember Plan B? We need to minimize the amount of Pyrrhians who will escape their continent, and this world seems very much like our problematic world."
"Ah. Yes." Cassriel said. "Well, I was just observing the ceremony there, you can never be too careful with animus dragons." Nestorats looked skeptical. "What is your obsession with that stuff?" She asked. "Oh, just something that happened to me a long time ago." Cassriel responded, trying to say as little as he could about the events that transpired thousands of years ago.
"Well, lucky for you, I found something you might like." Nestorats said. She led Cassriel to the other end of Queen Lagoon's old Island Palace and onto a wooden dock. "Apparently, right here is where Indigo killed Albatross. Well, really it was Fathom, but you know." Nestorats said.
Cassriel didn't really care about the history of animus magic, just how it worked. But before he could say something, he saw something move behind Nestorats. "Nestorats, behind you." He said, and out from one of the tunnels walked three dragons, and two humans, all donning white hoods.
One of the humans instantly aimed what looked like an assault rifle at Nestorats and began to fire. Nestorats created a wall of fire which absorbed the bullets, and then pushed it towards the man. The man was quickly snatched up by a Nightwing, who yelled at one of the other dragons, a Silkwing this time.
The Silkwing descended from the sky and began to let fire drop from her wrists. A Flamesilk. Cassriel dodged the fire and summoned the Vines of Rose. The long, tentacle-like arms reached up from the wooden floor and began to swipe at the Flamesilk.
The other human, a woman this time, suddenly fired something at Cassriel, who realized with a jolt that it was a Kiboten dragon snare. He turned and looked at the woman to see that she was wearing something else beneath the white hood. An ancient Old Monarchy uniform.
Damn this resistance! Why do they always show up at the least convenient times! And why do they always have such a strange mix of members?
The third dragon, this time from a tribe Cassriel couldn't even recognize, aimed a mobile rifle at Nestorats and fired. She shrieked as the bullet pierced through her. The shot was loud, loud enough so that at the other end of the palace, Torrent of the Seawings glanced in the direction of the battle, wondering what that noise was.
Sorry about the delay. Soon enough we will be back on schedule. Prepare for something huge next chapter. Thank you for all the positive reviews.