------------------------------------------------Chapter 17------------------------------------------------------
The Black Slayer
The Dragon of War
Jessica
dilly_freak7_7@hotmail.com
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They all stared in fear for a few more seconds as I inconspicuously separated the leader from the rest of the men with a carefully formed wall of magic, invisible as the rest of the box. I began to concentrate intensely again. The men began to panic as they knew what this meant. Slowly, painfully slow, the box began to float off the ground. Several men dropped to their knees to pray. Then with a rush of power that not only quenched but sated my magic, the box shot up ten feet in the air. The screams began. *Ryan, leave Dilandau and find me, come with Mark*(-me:ryan-) *Okay* As I waited in my clearing, some of the men began to beg for mercy, but I paid them no heed. About two minutes later, Ryan and Mark showed up in the clearing and were startled by what met their eyes. *I have reason. Follow me* I thought to them. They followed.

I walked through the dense forest back to the battered village where it was obvious that some of the men were being missed. As soon as I reached the edge of the forest, the soldiers I had captured began screaming for help. The closer militants took notice and started to run to help. Then stopped about thirty yards away as they realized that their friends were floating for no obvious reason fifteen feet off the ground.
Who here is the commander of theses forces?' I yelled loudly. One man, about 6'8, pushed through the gathering crowd, although most of the people just moved out of his way. He wore polished metal armor, clearly made just for him, with the crest of Austoria on the chestplate. His helmet was modeled after a dragon's head with the jaws gaping open to reveal a chiseled face with a small black goatee in his chin that offset his hard features very poorly. All in all, what one would expect to see on a commanding officer.
I am' he answered. He showed no fear at what I could do.
You have decimated a village. Why have you done this?' I asked in an ice cold tone.
Your country, as I assume you are a part of Zibach, has taken captive one of the Knights of Caeli. It is my country's duty to assure that he is returned to the safety of Austoria. This force will see to that' he answered in the same emotionless tone. I nodded.
Granted. But tell me one thing, can a small village capture a well trained warrior? Can a farmer do more than put down a lame beast? What good is a group of farmers with scythes and torches against a fully trained regiment of Gaea's best soldiers? Why do you destroy the home of some one who has done no wrong?' I asked. For once, the man did not look confused at all.
We will destroy all in our path until we have achieved our goal. We will do whatever is possible to regain what has been lost' he replied.
You have been well trained. What is your name?' *Get ready to transform to your dragon form on my signal. Put a spell on your horses so they will not notice* (-me)*Right*
My name is not of your concern' he answered coldly.
Oh? Then perhaps the lives of twenty of your men are?' As I said this, I made my box of magic visible. It literally looked like fire exploded for no reason around the terrified men. Many of the soldiers that had gathered around backed away in fear and a few of the lesser ones ran off screaming about the demoness who controls fire.
I will not be pushed by a lesser who has obviously never been in wartime negotiations!' was the leader's frustrated answer.
But you have' I smiled. My colleagues have power similar to mine, and more. You never have seen power such as ours before. I assure you, we are a force not only to be watched, but to be feared' I said in an ice cold tone that passed through the dead silent crowd of soldiers like a knife through water. I lifted my hand, fingers spread, to let everyone see my demonstration of power.
To live is to die, and to die is to live' I said quietly. I quickly fisted my hand. At the same instant, my box of magic contracted around the horrified men and killed them instantly. The leader, whom I had spared, promptly sank to his knees and began entreating me to spare his life.
You see now what I am capable of. I warn you, if you do not take your forces and leave, you will face the hell of war. More precisely, my wrath' At my last words, frightened gasps and murmurs started up within the group of soldiers. I stood quietly for the order I knew would come. Before I let the man go, I burned Hell's Fire's mark into his cheek, black of flame. The man ran to the safety of his fellow soldiers.
Hold your places! Prepare to attack!' The burly man roared to his soldiers. The instinct to obey overran their fears and they formed a well organized block; lines of men thirty rows deep and forty combatants long. Ready!' the general shouted. *Ready? As soon as they start, change. Got it?*(-me:ryanandmark-) *Alright* Ryan and Mark climbed off their horses and slapped their flanks so they would run into the forest.
Attack!!!!!' the man yelled at the top of his lungs. The battle cry crackled through the ranks like lightning through earth. The men charged forward to be met by a solid wall of dragonflesh. My friends and I roared their answer to the enemy's battle cry and swept several of the men off their feet in one swipe. *We can't hold back a thousand, and I'd rather not try. Let's go* I heard Ryan say as she knocked ten more men into the air. *Fair enough. I agree. Find the horses and get back to Dil, he'll be wondering where you went off to*(-me)*Agreed* both answered. All three of us took to the sky. A cheer of victory went up in the ranks of enemy soldiers that didn't last too long since I shot a fireball ten feet in diameter into their midst. I didn't stop to see what damage I had caused. We quickly picked up Dilandau and our horses, which were alseep once again, and disappeared into the setting sun.

The rumors were flying. It was two weeks after returning to Zibach, warning Dornkirk of the obvious danger, and somehow, the rumors had reached the vione, remote in some distant corner of Gaea. 1, Austoria was after Allen and Gadeth. 2, Hitomi, now popular, had disappeared, supposedly back to the Mystic Moon. 3, Dilandau and Jessica were having an affair that had gone wrong and ended up with him sporting numerous chars and slashes. 4, Jade was a spy. 5, Jessica had bewitched' Folken into doing whatever she wanted. Of course, this was almost expected. 1 was true, 2 was true by word of loyal spies, 3 was close, the affair never happened, 4 was false, and 5 was part way true, though magic was not a part of it. Folken, for some strange reason, seemed scared of me. Whenever I entered a room he was in, he would find some reason to get out. I could almost never talk to him because he would shiver and wring his hands and look longingly at the door. He would continuosly look at the clock too. Maybe it was because he was under too much stress? Oh well. The minute we had gotten back, I had ran to a mirror to discover that my hair had turned black and the ends red, making it look as if my hair had been dipped in blood. My eyes were now a blood red deeper than Dilandau's and I have since found that they turn almost black when I get mad. Ever since the night we had gotten back, I had been pushing people around to get my way, which wasn't too hard. I got my old room back and moved back in. Ryan's room was across the hall from mine, and Mark's was on the right of mine. My room code was 666, I didn't know Ryan's, but Mark had told me his on his own will, so he knew mine. His was 571. I had been supplied with a small training gym for our group, as well as a weight room adjacent to the gym. A healthy' competition was going on between the Slayers and Fire. Sadly enough, the only person the Dragonslayers could barely beat was Mark, and he was learning quickly with my and Ryan's help. I kinda felt sorry for them until they challenged us again. Too bad Ryan loved gloating and got us in even more fights. Well, the training was good anyway.

Since we had returned, I had been having horrible nightmares, some I couldn't remember more than flashes of pale color, some stayed with me the whole day. I had taken to laying in Mark's arms at night, too terrified even for sleep. (just for you people thinking wrong, no. i just sat there and so did he. sorry you perverted ones:)) One in particular occured more than the others.

I was battling several other guymelefs and doing well. Suddenly, Zelas failed, some outside force shutting down every one of her systems. My foes took advantage of my shock and cut my precious melef to pieces. I escaped, however, and flew out of reach of their swords, blasting them with fireballs shrouded in electricity, which I shouldn't be capable of. I was taken by surprise again when a cage of black magic enveloped me and drew me back to its creator. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. What I could see was that they were angry. No, furious. It was emenating from them so clearly that I saw it in an aura of rage. Which swirled and flowed directly at me. The figure was clothed in all black clothes. A heavy cloak fell to the person's ankle's which were incased in travelling boots.
You, must die' they said, their voice full of absolute hate. Strong hands moved to pull back the deep hood, but paused halfway there, giving me the chance to notice the two long, silver knuckle rings on the last two fingers of her right hand. They covered her entire finger and ended in dragon-like talons. The hands completed the task and revealed the identity of my captor. My eyes took in a flame tattoo just below the right eye on the cheek, the dark hair.............


and before I could think of anything else, I would wake up. Everytime, I was drenched in a cold sweat, near screaming or crying and my left arm would throb in pain along with my feet. Not to mention the gigantic headache that followed as soon as I woke up. It was so bad that often I went to the nearest infirmary and had them give me pain killers. I just hated that nightmare. It wasn't the worst, but it was the most confusing. Well, back to the present.

Two days ago we had been in a comparitively small skirmish with yet another rescue party. We still had Allen and Gaddeth, placed twenty cells apart with two guards each at all times and more than one security camera' rolling. Anyway, the opposing countries had actually been stupidly smart enough to send some of the better soldiers. Miguel had been on the graveyard patrol when he had spotted their camp two hundred yards away from the vione, which was too damned close. Migs had gotten back quietly and warned Dil and Folken of the attack. The DragonSlayers had been organized, and I dragged Hell's Fire along for some experience. We had surrounded the camp by morning. When we had attacked however, the soldiers were ready. Most of the force of twenty DragonSlayers we had brought were taken by surprised and knocked over by the trained soldiers. HF (Hell's Fire) had to save their butts by using our magic to scare the shit out of the soldiers with illusions of dragons. I have never seen so many men cry for their mommy all at once. Zibach's force regrouped and attacked again, taking the two commanders prisoner and cutting the rest of the soldiers to ribbons. Even though we were evenly matched, every one of the DS had spent a day in the infirmary if not more. Yes, even Dilandau. In fact, ten of the men were out of action for a week at least. Dil included. And Dilandau was acting like a baby who had been denied a toy. He also had another nifty scar to curse someone about right across the other one, making a neato X pattern. As hilarious as it was, that is a story for later. MUCH later. HF, however, had come away almost clean. I had a cut on my hand, making it a bit painful to hold my sword. Ryan had gotten to close to my fire and had charred her sword hand and I'm not letting her train until it's healed. Mark had gotten over-sure of himself and had a somewhat nasty gash on his chest. Ain't it peachy.

Back to today. Too much explaining. It was about eleven at night, and I was ready to sleep again. I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes..... and nothing happened. I tried in another postition and slept for about fifteen minutes before I started fidgeting again. This kept up for three more hours before I gave and just sat there. I began to think about my life on Gaea. It had gone pretty much down the drain. The Slayers were mostly scared at the explosions I could pull when I tried to train them. Dilandau and I were not on speaking terms, especially when I had saved his ass in almost every battle. Ryan was all eyes for Migs, poor boy, and I couldn't get her to concentrate if he was in sight. I felt really sorry for Migs when I saw the goggle eyes in Kiki's head after looking at him for a couple of minutes. Mark was adjusting well to life on this planet and had shown a talent for a scythe. Occasionaly, however, he would slip and ask for coke at dinner. I gave him credit though. It had taken time for him to win respect with everyone, the DragonSlayers, Dilandau, Ryan. He won it in a fight with Gatti. Gatti had been teasing him, backed up by Miguel, Viole, and Chesta, and Mark had simply gotten pissed. He had flung back some answer that had enraged all four of the Slayers just as I had walked by. Their response was to attack him all at once. He met them with speed, agility, and strength that he never showed around the DS (DragonSlayers) before. They were lucky with what they got away with. Chesta, the weakest, left with just a black eye, Viole had a sprained wrist, a few bruises and a cut on his lip, which was very swollen. Miguel was bestowed with a black eye, a split and swollen lip, a sore stomach from mupltiple blows, and a purple face. Gatti, however, got by far the worst beating. He got two black eyes, two split lips, his face turned black, a cracked jaw, and was still shaken by the force of the electric jolt Mark had given him. I had let the fight last about five minutes before I stopped Mark and the DS ran off. Literally. Oh, and did I mention that Mark got away without so much as a scratch?
My relationship with Mark had grown more and more solid with each passing day. A lot of times, we would just sit and talk together. We often fought side by side and when one fell, the other always stood to protect them. We did the same with Ryan because most of Zibach's normal soldiers wouldn't get near her and she was part of the group anyway. Whenever Dilandau got pissed at him, I would stand up for him because even though Mark was good, I was the only person who could barely beat the pyro. Whenever I was around Mark, I got this feeling of absolute security, like nothing, nothing could hurt me. I was totally relaxed in his arms, warm tingles spreading through my body.

My thoughts were interrupted by someone entering the room. Since they came in quietly, I feined sleep and listened to every move they made with intensified dragon hearing and watched every motion with the same type of eyes. Before I could identify the intruder, something blocked out all my senses and I reverted back to my normal human self. This startled me. I woke up' and pulled out the dagger hidden under my pillow and prepared myself for an attack.




once again, no comment
-Lil Pyro