Author's Note: Sort of, Freefall. What the Spirit does is amplify his
emotions when he uses it. It basically takes them, magnifies them and makes
them into amazingly powerful Dragoon armor. If he's afraid, angry, or
anything like that, he becomes the Apocalypse Dragoon. Otherwise, he
becomes the Guardian Dragoon. Does that make sense?
Yes, I brought back Rose. When I was thinking about the whole greatest- capacity-for-both-good-and-evil thimg, I suddenly thought 'Hey, that sounds like Rose', so I decided to work that into the story. So I gave her a temporary Get-Out-Of-Death-Free Card so she could go knock some sense into Rayen. Whether it works or not is something we'll just have to wait and find out.
Chapter 56
Rayen finished relating his story and looked at his audience. Phil was skeptical, Sean nonplussed, and Shade impassive, as usual. The others were off on their individual tasks of one sort or another.
Phil's remark was dripping with sarcasm. "Well then, what did the ghost Dragoon tell you?"
The disbelief was doing nothing to bolster Rayen's mood, so his response was snappish and irritable. "Well, if you'd like the brief summary, she said there was a piece of both gods in my rock and that I need anger management."
"Hell, I could have told you that."
Rayen's fist clenched, and he drew in a breath, but eventually he released it in a deep shuddering sigh. It was impossible to stay mad around the Jade Dragoon. Exasperated, maybe, but not angry. "What am I going to do with you?"
Shade sat near the pair with his hands folded behind his head. "Have you considered taking his Dragoon Spirit, packing him in a large box, and airmailing him off to the Death Frontier?"
Rayen smiled, but shook his head. "Nah, that wouldn't work. He'd never get past airport security. His face is a lethal weapon."
Phil feigned injury. "That was cold."
"I know. I quite enjoyed it."
The phone at the registration desk rang. The attendant picked it up, belting out her usual response. Then, a perplexed look crossed her face and she muttered something the four Dragoons couldn't catch. She glanced at Rayen. "It's for you."
Rayen got up; Sean and Phil following suit. Shade left to deal with his assignment.
The Divine Dragoon sighed. "What do you think it is this time?"
Phil smirked. "Probably someone asking for a cell phone number."
Rayen tossed an acidic glance back at the Jade Dragoon. "Is that all you think about?"
Phil shrugged. "I get hungry every once in a while."
"What about the whole saving the world deal?"
"That's your job."
"Oh yeah."
The assistant handed Rayen the receiver. "Hello?"
A cold male voice Rayen didn't recognize buzzed through the earpiece. "Are you the boy, the one in charge?"
"You could put it that way. Who is this?"
"That's not important right now."
Uh-oh, Rayen thought, that's never a good sign. There's a man I don't know on the other end, and he won't tell me his name. Probably threats of some sort coming up next.
"Is Project Shade around?"
Rayen's suspicions mounted, especially with the use of the title 'Project'. "No, he left to train some of the new recruits."
"Really? Ah well, then I guess we won't be able to talk to him."
"If you want Shade, I can go and get..."
"No, that's not necessary. It's you we wanted to speak to."
Rayen glanced at his two friends, who were staring at him in something between anticipation and anxiousness. "Well then, what do you want?"
"Are you aware of what is wandering through Tiberoa at this very moment?"
"I'm sure there are a lot of things wandering through Tiberoa, but you sound like you mean something specific. Is it dangerous?"
"No. Well, yes, but only to one person. It's a clone of Project Shade. We call it Eclipse."
Rayen almost dropped the receiver. "Excuse me?"
The man's response was calm. "You heard me. We took some unaltered DNA when he was first brought here, and we managed to send it off to the main database before the unfortunate incident at the lab."
"So you're with the people who've been producing the monsters. Can you hold on a minute while I relay the psychobabble you've been spouting to my friends?"
The man did not sound angered by Rayen's less than tactful reply, nor did he protest against Rayen sharing the information he had just been given. In fact, he waited patiently while Rayen placed the receiver down and turned to Phil and Sean, who were waiting eagerly. "Well, first off, it's not some girl who wants your cell phone number, Phil."
"Damn."
"Sorry. On the other hand, it is a guy who claims that there's a clone of Shade running around Tiberoa somewhere."
Phil raised an eyebrow at this, while Sean looked grim.
Rayen lifted the receiver to his ear once more. "OK, but there's one thing that strikes me as either incredibly arrogant or incredibly stupid. Why would you want to release an assassin on our trail then call us on the telephone and let us know that he's coming? Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?"
"I said it was only dangerous to one person. It was originally meant to kill all of you, but after this war surfaced, we figured it would be more beneficial to us if you took care of them first."
Rayen's reply was dry and sarcastic. "How generous of you. But why kill just Shade?"
"Simple. Eclipse is coming to replace Project Shade. He was a failed experiment. Eclipse is how we wanted Shade to turn out. Now that we've perfected our testing techniques, we figured we'd give it another try."
"So you feel like you screwed up too much with the original, so you send a clone up here to kill him and take his place?"
"More or less."
"What if we try to prevent him from killing the real Shade?"
"Eclipse outperforms Project Shade in every possible area. It would be far more beneficial to your cause to have him in your army."
"You're nuts."
"Consider it our donation to the war effort."
Rayen stared at the earpiece in disbelief. "My god, you ARE nuts!"
"Believe what you will. Eclipse should arrive in Deningrad in a week or so."
The mysterious caller hung up. Rayen stared at the receiver numbly for a few moments before placing it back on the hook. "They want to kill Shade and replace him with a clone."
Phil's eyebrows shot higher. "You're right, that is pretty twisted."
Sean, however, was looking farther ahead. "Should we tell him?"
Rayen shook his head. "No, Shade's got enough on his mind, it would just upset him. You know what he went through in that place."
Phil and Rayen glanced at each other darkly, for they had been the only ones to see beneath the Dark Dragoon's mask. For Shade to see himself, before he had been mutilated beyond recognition, might be too much for the Dark Dragoon. If told, Shade would think of nothing else until Eclipse arrived. They needed his mind on other things. No, it was better for him not to know, at least for now.
************************************************************************
The shadowy creature had crossed into Tiberoa the day Rayen had released the Apocalypse Dragoon. Now, it crept through the Barrens, navigating its way slowly through the maze of desert and sandstone caves. It tread lightly, no dust stirred up by its steps. It ignored the oppressive heat that hung thick in the desert air. The arid climate was a minor irritant, soon to be dealt with once it had passed beyond the sun's hellish glare upon this land.
The monsters that inhabited the Barrens dared not attack Eclipse. Some had seen him before; they knew the fluid way he moved, and they feared the far more fluid way he plunged blades into bodies. But there was one thing, actually three things, that Eclipse feared in this place. He steered far away from the cave the Red-Eye Dragons had chosen for their home, knowing that alerting them of his presence would spell his own doom. He knew that they would have no qualms about killing him, as they would with an ordinary human, in fact, they would actually welcome his death, for he would be much easier to feed to their infants than the monsters they normally consumed. To feed the babies, they often had to bring the monster back alive, and let the fledglings devour what they could before the quarry died and dissolved into smoke.
Although he stayed as far away as possible from the Dragon lair, he traveled quickly. He had no idea when the Dragoons would leave Deningrad, or more importantly, where they would go when they left. Therefore, Eclipse wanted to reach his predecessor before they left the capital city of Millie Seaseu, if possible. Soon he would reach Donau, and Millie Seaseu would be within his sights. Something like grim excitement passed through Eclipse's mind. Soon, his life's task would be completed.
Author's Note: OK, I realize that not much happened in that chapter, but that was me explaining Eclipse and his purpose and all that. He was originally meant to kill the Dragoons, but now he's going to join the good guys. Odd, huh? Of course, that's if they let him. Killing Shade won't do much to endear him to the group. But, hell, it's not his fault, it's the only purpose of his existance. On some level, I almost feel sorry for him. O_o I have problems.
Yes, I brought back Rose. When I was thinking about the whole greatest- capacity-for-both-good-and-evil thimg, I suddenly thought 'Hey, that sounds like Rose', so I decided to work that into the story. So I gave her a temporary Get-Out-Of-Death-Free Card so she could go knock some sense into Rayen. Whether it works or not is something we'll just have to wait and find out.
Chapter 56
Rayen finished relating his story and looked at his audience. Phil was skeptical, Sean nonplussed, and Shade impassive, as usual. The others were off on their individual tasks of one sort or another.
Phil's remark was dripping with sarcasm. "Well then, what did the ghost Dragoon tell you?"
The disbelief was doing nothing to bolster Rayen's mood, so his response was snappish and irritable. "Well, if you'd like the brief summary, she said there was a piece of both gods in my rock and that I need anger management."
"Hell, I could have told you that."
Rayen's fist clenched, and he drew in a breath, but eventually he released it in a deep shuddering sigh. It was impossible to stay mad around the Jade Dragoon. Exasperated, maybe, but not angry. "What am I going to do with you?"
Shade sat near the pair with his hands folded behind his head. "Have you considered taking his Dragoon Spirit, packing him in a large box, and airmailing him off to the Death Frontier?"
Rayen smiled, but shook his head. "Nah, that wouldn't work. He'd never get past airport security. His face is a lethal weapon."
Phil feigned injury. "That was cold."
"I know. I quite enjoyed it."
The phone at the registration desk rang. The attendant picked it up, belting out her usual response. Then, a perplexed look crossed her face and she muttered something the four Dragoons couldn't catch. She glanced at Rayen. "It's for you."
Rayen got up; Sean and Phil following suit. Shade left to deal with his assignment.
The Divine Dragoon sighed. "What do you think it is this time?"
Phil smirked. "Probably someone asking for a cell phone number."
Rayen tossed an acidic glance back at the Jade Dragoon. "Is that all you think about?"
Phil shrugged. "I get hungry every once in a while."
"What about the whole saving the world deal?"
"That's your job."
"Oh yeah."
The assistant handed Rayen the receiver. "Hello?"
A cold male voice Rayen didn't recognize buzzed through the earpiece. "Are you the boy, the one in charge?"
"You could put it that way. Who is this?"
"That's not important right now."
Uh-oh, Rayen thought, that's never a good sign. There's a man I don't know on the other end, and he won't tell me his name. Probably threats of some sort coming up next.
"Is Project Shade around?"
Rayen's suspicions mounted, especially with the use of the title 'Project'. "No, he left to train some of the new recruits."
"Really? Ah well, then I guess we won't be able to talk to him."
"If you want Shade, I can go and get..."
"No, that's not necessary. It's you we wanted to speak to."
Rayen glanced at his two friends, who were staring at him in something between anticipation and anxiousness. "Well then, what do you want?"
"Are you aware of what is wandering through Tiberoa at this very moment?"
"I'm sure there are a lot of things wandering through Tiberoa, but you sound like you mean something specific. Is it dangerous?"
"No. Well, yes, but only to one person. It's a clone of Project Shade. We call it Eclipse."
Rayen almost dropped the receiver. "Excuse me?"
The man's response was calm. "You heard me. We took some unaltered DNA when he was first brought here, and we managed to send it off to the main database before the unfortunate incident at the lab."
"So you're with the people who've been producing the monsters. Can you hold on a minute while I relay the psychobabble you've been spouting to my friends?"
The man did not sound angered by Rayen's less than tactful reply, nor did he protest against Rayen sharing the information he had just been given. In fact, he waited patiently while Rayen placed the receiver down and turned to Phil and Sean, who were waiting eagerly. "Well, first off, it's not some girl who wants your cell phone number, Phil."
"Damn."
"Sorry. On the other hand, it is a guy who claims that there's a clone of Shade running around Tiberoa somewhere."
Phil raised an eyebrow at this, while Sean looked grim.
Rayen lifted the receiver to his ear once more. "OK, but there's one thing that strikes me as either incredibly arrogant or incredibly stupid. Why would you want to release an assassin on our trail then call us on the telephone and let us know that he's coming? Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?"
"I said it was only dangerous to one person. It was originally meant to kill all of you, but after this war surfaced, we figured it would be more beneficial to us if you took care of them first."
Rayen's reply was dry and sarcastic. "How generous of you. But why kill just Shade?"
"Simple. Eclipse is coming to replace Project Shade. He was a failed experiment. Eclipse is how we wanted Shade to turn out. Now that we've perfected our testing techniques, we figured we'd give it another try."
"So you feel like you screwed up too much with the original, so you send a clone up here to kill him and take his place?"
"More or less."
"What if we try to prevent him from killing the real Shade?"
"Eclipse outperforms Project Shade in every possible area. It would be far more beneficial to your cause to have him in your army."
"You're nuts."
"Consider it our donation to the war effort."
Rayen stared at the earpiece in disbelief. "My god, you ARE nuts!"
"Believe what you will. Eclipse should arrive in Deningrad in a week or so."
The mysterious caller hung up. Rayen stared at the receiver numbly for a few moments before placing it back on the hook. "They want to kill Shade and replace him with a clone."
Phil's eyebrows shot higher. "You're right, that is pretty twisted."
Sean, however, was looking farther ahead. "Should we tell him?"
Rayen shook his head. "No, Shade's got enough on his mind, it would just upset him. You know what he went through in that place."
Phil and Rayen glanced at each other darkly, for they had been the only ones to see beneath the Dark Dragoon's mask. For Shade to see himself, before he had been mutilated beyond recognition, might be too much for the Dark Dragoon. If told, Shade would think of nothing else until Eclipse arrived. They needed his mind on other things. No, it was better for him not to know, at least for now.
************************************************************************
The shadowy creature had crossed into Tiberoa the day Rayen had released the Apocalypse Dragoon. Now, it crept through the Barrens, navigating its way slowly through the maze of desert and sandstone caves. It tread lightly, no dust stirred up by its steps. It ignored the oppressive heat that hung thick in the desert air. The arid climate was a minor irritant, soon to be dealt with once it had passed beyond the sun's hellish glare upon this land.
The monsters that inhabited the Barrens dared not attack Eclipse. Some had seen him before; they knew the fluid way he moved, and they feared the far more fluid way he plunged blades into bodies. But there was one thing, actually three things, that Eclipse feared in this place. He steered far away from the cave the Red-Eye Dragons had chosen for their home, knowing that alerting them of his presence would spell his own doom. He knew that they would have no qualms about killing him, as they would with an ordinary human, in fact, they would actually welcome his death, for he would be much easier to feed to their infants than the monsters they normally consumed. To feed the babies, they often had to bring the monster back alive, and let the fledglings devour what they could before the quarry died and dissolved into smoke.
Although he stayed as far away as possible from the Dragon lair, he traveled quickly. He had no idea when the Dragoons would leave Deningrad, or more importantly, where they would go when they left. Therefore, Eclipse wanted to reach his predecessor before they left the capital city of Millie Seaseu, if possible. Soon he would reach Donau, and Millie Seaseu would be within his sights. Something like grim excitement passed through Eclipse's mind. Soon, his life's task would be completed.
Author's Note: OK, I realize that not much happened in that chapter, but that was me explaining Eclipse and his purpose and all that. He was originally meant to kill the Dragoons, but now he's going to join the good guys. Odd, huh? Of course, that's if they let him. Killing Shade won't do much to endear him to the group. But, hell, it's not his fault, it's the only purpose of his existance. On some level, I almost feel sorry for him. O_o I have problems.