Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Knights, Mineko Ohkami does.

Ch.5 Uncovered Past

Kai-stern huffed along uphill. He was beginning to regret his decision of going into the Snowy Mountains to look for Rath. Not only was the trek up the hillside tiring and energy-consuming, but it was also very cold.

And snowing.

Only a child like Rath would run away to place like this, Kai-stern thought.

The Blue Dragon Officer's boots hit snow. The man glanced down in surprise.

Snow? He thought bewilderedly, There shouldn't be any snow at this point uphill.

Perplexedly, Kai-stern looked up and viewed his surroundings. A white glistening blanket looked back at him. But instead of being smooth and straight as it usually would be, it was disarrayed and rumpled-looking.

An avalange, the Dragon Officer thought grimly, viewing the mess, then another thought sprung at him, making his heart clench, Rath! Oh, Sweet Dusis, I hope Rath wasn't caught in this!

The man hurried through the large mass of snow, struggling upwards, feverently hoping, hope against hope, that the child was safe somewhere up there in a shelter of some sort.

Rath, he thought, fighting the panic rising in him, Rath, please be safe!

Kai-stern made his way up the mountain-side, not glancing back the way he had come, thus missing a patch of snow that had began to move slightly.
A black nose poked through the cold, melting slush and breathed in several deep breaths of air. Slowly a head broke it's way through, also, then finally, a body emerged from its imprisonment. The creature's fur would have matched the color of the snow, if not had it been for several streaks and splotches of red that now adorned its body.

Crewgar stood heavily on his feet, trembling from the cold. The demon-dog took several unsteady steps forward, then halted, whining pitifully. Rath, he had to get to Rath. He had to protect him from the Yokai! But it hurt so much to move!

A slight breeze blew up, wafting itself in the demon-dog's face. Crewgar lifted his head and smelled the wind. That scent! He knew that scent! A name formed in the demon-dog's mind: Kai-stern. Kai-stern had gone looking for Rath. He was near!

Crewgar started forward once more, this time with more energy. He would find Kia-stern. He would lead him to Rath. They would rescue him!

The demon-dog pressed onward, ignoring the blood the gushed from his wound which had opened anew. Ignoring his frozen paws and nose, ignoring all the injuries inflicted on his body. He pressed onward through the numbing snow, with only one thought on his mind: Rath.

Kharl the alchemist placed the final finishing touches to his work and stepped back to view it. The white-haired Yokai gave a pleased smile and congratulated himself on the marvelous craftsmanship skills he had.

There, in the center of what looked like several, thick pulsing veins, a small black-haired child was tightly bound. Above it, the Yokai's remaining bird hovered, giving off a glowing black aura which ran from it directly and poured itself into Rath.

Kharl allowed his smile to lessen somewhat. Right Bird was following his orders correctly by trying to extract the boy's powers from him, but the main mystery to him was …what exactly the boy was. It wasn't until he had returned to his cave and conducted further research on the child to find out what needed to be done to him-that he had made the amazing discovery-

The boy wasn't really a Dragon-or even a Yokai for that matter. He was something more entirely. Something not even he could have thought existed or put into words. The child was a demonic creature of some sort-some awe-inspiring masterpiece holding within itself vast amounts of potential energy and power…

And the power-by gods, the power-it far surpassed even the most greatest potential of any of the past Demon Lords of the realm, including those of his late master. All that energy resting undisturbedly and only he, Kharl, was this close in succeeding to get to it-

With one minor drawback.

This thing-this magnifigant beast of some sort was sealed inside a shell of a Dragon. A Dragon, who moreover, was a mere child.

Kharl bristled at the unfairness of it all. So near at the goal he sought for only to be blocked by a powerful spell that locked the true form of the boy deep inside himself and defeated him from claiming all that waiting power to be his. There was only one person who would do such an absurd thing as altering the form of a mighty demonic creature to a weak and pitiful child and sealing its powers away…the Dragon Lord of Dusis!

The alchemist glanced up at the black-haired boy once more and did some critical thinking in his head. The white-haired Yokai would stake every year of his life that the the Dragon Lord had some ulterior motive behind the imprisoning of Rath's real character. After all, no one would leave that much power go to waste-not even so-called "good and righteous" rulers like Lykuleon. The Dragon Lord was probably planning to use the boy as a secret weapon to any other powerful and dangerous Yokai that emerged on the scene wanted to replace him as ruler. And the child probably had no idea.

Kharl allowed his smile to climb upwards a little more. Yes, he thought, the little brat must think that everyone he lives with is all kind and loving and altogether uncapable of any acts of a darker kind. He must adore Lykuleon. What a revolting, yet delightful concept…

The alchemist let an idea that had sprouted in his mind just suddenly, swirl around for a few minutes before smiling his best and fullest smile that he only put on for special celebrations(and when he was estatically happy).

Wouldn't it just be so… ironic… if I used Lykuleon's own special secret weapon against him? I'd not only defeat his plan of not being overthrown from his kingdom, but I would also receive vengence for my master's death by killing the man that killed him!

ironic…

If the white-haired Yokai's mind was still debating whether or not to use this new idea, the last thought of his made up his mind completely.

"Right Bird," he called out merrily, looking up at the boy yet again, "I've changed my mind. Don't kill him. Just start feeding him more demonic and human powers."

The black demon bird responded to his master's request with a loud screech and began complying to his wishes.

Kharl began walking towards the back of the cave intending to lie down and rest awhile, savoring the exciting anticipation of when he awoke he would have a greatly powerful demon on his hands to do whatever he commanded. He wouldn't need to do any work-Right Bird would supply the body controls and Left Bird would-the alchemist stopped dead in his tracks. Left Bird was dead-killed by that insolent brat. Left Bird was dead, which meant that it could not control the creature's mind when it awoke, which meant that he would have to oversee Right Bird's awakening ritual and make sure nothing went wrong.

The white-haired Yokai sighed, resigning himself to a seat on a large boulder. It was a pity he couldn't have complete control over the demonic being, but he supposed that it would use its brain if he left it intact. All he had to do when the child reverted to his true form was gain its confidence and slowly make it hate whomever Kharl hated. And the Dragon Lord of Dusis was first on his list.

The alchemist gazed upon the scene before him and smiled wider-if that was possible. He guessed that the more demon energy that Right Bird planted within him, the sheer presence of more energy would awaken the real creature that the boy was, thus bringing its powers out.

Kharl wondered if he would still need the child's necklace to subdue it if it got out of hand. The Yokai searched himself for it. It was not there. He supposed he must have dropped it sometime on his journey here.

Oh, well, the alchemist thought shrugging, turning back to his faithful watch over Rath's transformation, It needn't matter. There are other ways of bringing one into submissiveness.

And the Yokai began to laugh.

Crewgar paused his exerting pushing uphill at a familiar landscape. The demon-dog looked around and growled softly. This place, he remembered this place. This was where the three of them had run into the flying Yokai with his birds-he, Rath and Fire…Fire whose scent was nearby!

The demon-dog sniffed the air excitedly and followed the dragon's smell until he came upon a massive pile of rocks-or more literally, boulders-packed tightly on one another. Crewgar's ears drooped and he gave a sad howl-another friend lost…lost like Illuser…

A sign popped up-jammed between two rocks:

:HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP ME:

Crewgar gave a startled yelp of surprise and jumped backwards slightly.

Another sign popped up:

:HURRY UP YOU STUPID MUTT! I'M SUFFOCATING:

The demon-dog got over his astonishment quickly and let out an irked growl at the comment, yet nevertheless, leaned his body against a rock and began to shove. The rock began to groan then creak and abrubtly without warning, the rock gave way and rolled forth from under the others.A small red lizard shot out forward-slamming into the demon-dog's face and gripping it tightly-just in time before the small opening had collapsed under all the weight.

: WHOA: the dragon held his sign up, eyes wide: THAT WAS CLOSE:

Crewgar shook the dragon off from his face and made a series of several, low growls and barks at his friend which seemed to upset Fire greatly.

: OF COURSE I'M CONCERNED ABOUT MASTER! BUT ANYONE WHO HAS A NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE HAS A LITTLE TROUBLE THINKING ABOUT OTHER THINGS FOR AWHILE: the little dragon waved his signs at his friend frantically.

The demon-dog ignored his fellow creature's outburst and proceeded to explain the situation to the dragon and his role in what to do next.

: O.K.: Fire stated on his sign after Crewgar was done: So you say Kai-stern is around here somewhere looking for Master:

The demon-dog affirmed the statement with a bark.

: And you say that you're going to find him and lead him to Master so he can rescue him from the evil bird's master:

Bark.

: And you want me to fly back to Draqueen and tell the Dragon Lord where Master is because I can get there faster:

Bark.

Fire nodded, showing he understood before scribbling down another message on his sign which read:

: I only have one question:

An inquiring glance came from Crewgar, before the demon-dog was bowled over by the little dragon's sign:

: WHY DO YOU GET TO BE THE HERO AND SAVE MASTER! I'M HIS DRAGON:

Crewgar leapt to his feet and gave his friend a stern reprimanding with fierce growls. Fire held up his next sign in surrender:

: O.K.! O.K.! You're right! We must rescue Master Rath as quickly as possible: the dragon sighed and unfurled his wings, before doubling over letting out a screech of pain.

The demon-dog looked over the dragon's wings and widened his eyes as he saw ragged holes and bleeding slashed across the thin scale-like material. And one of the wings was strangely crooked. Crewgar bent down and nuzzled his friend worriedly. Fire pushed away from him grimacing. The demon-dog whined softly asking if he had hurt him.

: No. Nose is cold: came the reply:

Crewgar sweatdropped.

Fire uprighted himself and slowly stretched out his wings biting back a choked cry. Flapping his wings several times to get the blood circulating again, he finally alifted into the air, before circling above the demon-dog once then flying off in the direction of Draqueen a bit lop-sidedly.

The demon-dog watched until he was out of sight before turning once again to the task of finding Kai-stern and leading him to Rath, but this time worried about his friend as well.

There was no light. No warmth. No sounds. Just an empty, vauge world of nothingness. A world that existed only of darkness. Rath was scared. Where was he? How could he get out? The child clutched his knees to his chest lonely and frightened, trembling as he remembered the last few moments of his consciousness. He wished he had never ran away from the Dragon Palace. The people there weren't so bad. And if he had ever been terrified of something, they would always comfort him. The Dragon Queen would always pick him up and rock him, singing gently. He would always fall into a peaceful sleep.

Rath looked around him and tried not to panic. He closed his eyes and tried hard to imagine he was someplace else. Somewhere which was bright and warm. But when the child opened his eyes the only thing that greeted him was eternal black darkness.

The young boy shivered convulsedly and he bit back the urge to jump up and scream in terror. So he tried to ignore the grim, silent place and buried his head against his knees. How long he stayed that way he didn't know, but he started when faint sounds reached his ears.

The child jerked his head up and squinted through the darkness to see a white filmy substance drifting toward him dreamily. Rath stared and as it got closer, saw that it was round in shape and reminded him of a bubble-only a much bigger one than he was used to. The boy let it come closer, not feeling the slightest bit scared. It was comforting to hear a sound-any sound in this horrible place. And the sound which he was hearing was laughter. Rath leaned forward eagerly as the bubble-like substance drifted up in front of him and then engulfed him.

At first, he could hear only the laughter-a happy kind of laugh at that-pealing all over the place, but then images began to form and the child could make out figures and a scene began to take place.

A small black-haired child was running down a shining marble floor and a person yelling in outrage was chasing after him. Another person behind that one was laughing and calling after the person in pursuit through ragged breaths.

" Alfeegi-haha-don't… kill him! He-haha-didn't…mean to!"

"Don't try and stop me Ruwalk! I've been victimized by that little terror one time too many! Today, he is getting his due!"

Rath watched mesmerized as the small boy ran into a larger room holding two people-a man with golden hair and an amused smile and a lady with curly, long black hair with gentle eyes-both with an air of regal bearings about them. The black-haired child ran up to the lady and hid behind her skirts, peering around them to view the person who had been chasing him.

The man had strawberry-blond hair and was huffing breathlessly and angrily and was quite red in the face. He cast his eyes about the room and caught sight of the small boy peeking out from behind the ladies dress. His face grew even redder then before.

"My Lady," he called out to the women with the long black hair, "I must insist you hand over that young vagabond to me at once! He deserves to be punished!"

The lady only smiled and ruffled the child's hair, "Why, what has he done, Alfeegi?"

The man flushed as bright as his strawberry-blond hair, stuttered a few times then seemed lost for words.

The man with the golden hair smiled at him, "Are you sure the matter is this serious, Alfeegi?"

That seemed to wake the man out of his stupor. Straightening up, he looked at the two adults indignantly, "Am I sure? AM I SURE!" he cried, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT HE DID, YOUR MAJESTY!

"No, I don't," the golden-haired man announced cheerily, "Why don't you tell us?"

It seemed as if the strawberry-blond haired man was once again dumbstruck. Then a voice behind spoke out, "He's probably too embarrassed, Your Majesty. Perhaps, I could tell you, however."

The strawberry-blond haired man whirled around to see another man with long red hair with brown ends at the bottom standing behind him.

"RUWALK!" he yelped, "DON'T YOU SAY A WORD! I CAN SPEAK FOR MYSELF!"

"Then do so, Alfeegi," the red-haired man said holding back a smile, "The Lord is waiting."

"FINE!" the strawberry-haired man cried, turning back to the two regal people, putting his temper in check, before launching into his story, "IT ALL STARTED WHEN HE-" the man pointed to the black-haired child, "SNUCK INTO MY ROOM AND STOLE MY CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES!"

An audible snort could be heard from behind him. The black-haired lady covered her mouth to hide her smile and the golden-haired man not bothering to hide his asked the man, "Is that what this is all about? Rath ate your stash of chocolate truffles?'

"NO, MY LORD, BUT THAT IS PRECISELY THE POINT!" the strawberry-haired man proclaimed vehemently, "DON'T YOU THINK THAT A NORMAL CHILD WOULD HAVE DONE THAT! DON'T YOU! OF COURSE, THEY WOULD! BUT NOT RATH! NOOOO! RATH GOES BEYOND THAT! DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID WITH THOSE TRUFFLES!"

Everyone listened, waiting expectantly.

"HE TOOK THEM TO CEROZURNA," the man went on his face already as red as it would go, turning purple, "AND TOLD HER THAT I HAD SENT HIM TO GIVE THEM TO HER AND TO ALSO ASK HER IF SHE WANTED TO GO ON A DATE WITH ME THAT NIGHT!"

The man broke off from his ranting and raving and stood breathing heavily. There was silence in the large room for several moments then…

The black-haired lady's shoulders began shaking and she began to make muffled sounds against the hand that she held over mouth. Her eyes were crinkled up in mirth. The golden-haired man made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh before hastily turning into a hacking cough. The red-haired man, however, abandoned all pretense and threw his head back laughing uproariously.

CONG!

The red-haired man now lay knocked out on the floor. The strawberry-haired man stood over him with a mallet. The golden-haired man got his coughing fit under control and managed to ask the other man, "And what answer did Cerozurna give you?"

This brought back the strawberry-haired man's temper, " SHE SAID 'YES' OF COURSE! I HAD TO FIND OUT WHAT SHE MEANT AND THEN EXPLAIN TO HER THAT I HAD NEVER SENT RATH WITH THAT MESSAGE! THEN SHE SLAPPED ME BECAUSE I SAID I WOULDN'T GO OUT WITH HER EVEN THOUGH I HADN'T ASKED HER IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

This time neither the man nor the lady tried to hide their laughter causing the strawberry-haired man to flush all the harder. The lady picked up the small child behind her and clutched him to her chest while shaking with laughter. The black-haired boy turned around and stuck out his tongue cheekily at the red-faced man causing a rather large vein to pop out on his forehead.

Suddenly the scene began to blur and fade away and Rath cried out strickenly. He didn't want to be left alone again in the darkness. But the people did not hear him and they dissolved into a filmy white substance again that drew away from him and went on, leaving the child in the blackness with a fading sound of laughter in his ears.

Rath looked at the bubble-like thing floating away and decided that he must have seen a memory of his from long ago. It seemed familiar-he had almost forgotten when he had done that. The boy cast his eyes around for another-he wanted to see more. Better to be seeing and hearing a memory than to see or hear nothing in this wretched darkness.

There! Aways a bit was another filmy white substance. But it wasn't floating his way-he would have to go to it. Slowly, the child got up. He felt…weightless. He pushed forward and found himself drifting along like he was swimming through water.

He was closer to the bubble-now he could hear the murmuring of voices. Rath gave himself a final shove forward and was instantly inside another bubble. The filmy white substance shielded his view for a moment before the scene took shape.

The golden-haired man and the black-haired lady were in this memory as well. Only…only this time they were not as cheerful. Rath saw that the golden-haired man held a small bundle in his arms. The boy wondered what it was when the man began to speak, "He is going to live here now, Raselene. He is going to grow up in the palace and learn our ways."

"But Lykuleon," the lady spoke and Rath heard her voice full of question and worry, "How could he… after all that he's done-"

"He is different now, Raselene," the man spoke as if trying to convince not only her but himself as well, "He will have no memory of his past. I've given him a new life. He is just a child now… a child who needs love and care."

The lady looked down at the bundle in the man's arms and her face softened, but when she spoke she still had doubt, "What did you and the officers decide to call him?"

"He'll be keeping the name of his former past as his last-Illuser. As for his first, Tetheus suggested 'Rath'."

Rath started. The bundle was him!

"Rath?" the lady seemed between amusement and surprise, "Why 'Rath'?"

"There was no particular reason for it. It was just a random name that was voted by the officers." The man looked at the woman, "Raselene,"

The lady did not respond, continuing to look down at the child, uncertainty clouding her face.

"Raselene," the man tried again and held out the bundle to her.

The lady took the child from him not really wanting to at first, but suddenly the child baby opened his yellow eyes and beamed up at her, reaching for one of her long strands of black hair with his tiny little hand. The lady's heart melted and a soft smile spread across her face.

"Rath," she crooned rocking him gently to and fro, "Rath."

And the golden-haired man smiled with relief and happiness.

Suddenly the scene twisted and faded yet again and the bubble lifted from the black-haired boy and drifted past him into the darkness. Rath did not immediately look for another but contemplated in his head what he had just heard. His only memories of living somewhere were in the palace, but he had never inquired how he came to be there. Now he began to wonder with unease of what his origins were.

Muffled sounds caught the child's attention. The boy looked about him and his gaze landed on a bubble headed his direction at what seemed a much faster rate than the others. The sounds coming from it were high-pitched and loud and a feeling of discomfort washed over him. He did not want to see whatever memory that was.

But the bubble it seemed was deliberately drifting towards him. Before he had even a chance to move, he was engulfed by it. Once more, the filmy white substance obscured his vision but he could hear perfectly well. And the sounds which reached his ears were screams, curses and horrible, monsterly roars. Rath tensed almost not wanting to see what sights would greet his eyes, but curiosity overcame that. The scene twisted into focus and the young boy gasped in horror.

People were screaming in terror and fear, their homes and lands destroyed utterly. Bodies of hundreds lay strewn out on the ground mutilated beyond recognition. Of the people who were still alive, many were bleeding horrendously and dying. And of the people still able to run, were fleeing for their lives shrieking in panic and utter chaos. And behind them…behind them fast at their heels was a monster…

The monster was fast, much faster than the people who were running from it and could have easily overtaken them anytime it wished. But to Rath's horror, he realized that the creature was toying with them. Every so often the demonic beast would leap in front of the hurring crowd and snap off the nearest person's head, frightening the people half out of their minds so they would change their direction of their frantic running. The child realized that beast was herding the people like cattle in a viscious game of cat and mouse.

And the creature was…enjoying it.

Rath could not suppress the sound of disgust that came from his throat. Almost as if it had heard him, the beast turned momentarily from its happy murderings and bore its eyes straight into Rath's.

And the child knew.

The demonic creature was…him.

"No," he whispered trance-like, "no…"

The monster grinned wolfishly at him and Rath realized it was the same type of smile he used on Alfeegi when he got away with things.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed sinking to his knees clutching his head tightly.

OUT! OUT! He wanted out of this nightmare! Out of this memory! OUT!

The scene faded away as the bubble lifted from him, but the sounds of the screaming did not stop.

Rath clasped his hands over his ears but could not block out the sounds of the anguished cries. The child whimpered, choking on a sob and realized with horror that he couldn't cry…

Light was feeling restless. Something was wrong. The white dragon looked back to his master who was talking to a merchant . The Dragon Lord had been asking what seemed like everyone in Draqueen if they had seen a small black-haired child anywhere. No one had.

The little dragon flew up to the top of a building trying to settle the growing unease in his stomach. Why was he feeling so unpeaceful? His master wasn't in danger-was it because they hadn't heard or seen hide or hair of Rath?

The name of the child stirred something deep inside of the dragon. Oh, what was this strange sensation he felt? Light looked up, and saw in amazement what appeared to be a portal appearing out of nowhere in the sky. From within it came a voice of a young woman, calling his name:

"Light…"

And with that voice the dragon knew…

He knew where Rath was…

He knew Rath was in trouble.

He knew he had an unbidden call to go to him…without Lykuleon.

Light started at that but the voice within the portal called to him again, "Light, hurry. Your master needs you…"

The white dragon knew she was not talking about Lykuleon.

Rath.

Light started forward, then stopped, glancing back at the Dragon Lord who was still talking to the merchant. He had never left his side in times of need-how could he do so now?

"Light…the portal…"

The white dragon looked up to see the portal beginning to close. It was now or never. The dragon took one final look at the golden-haired man who had been his master for years before hurling himself in the portal just before it closed.

He knew he would never see him again.

Crewgar was very excited. Kai-stern's scent was close nearby. And so was Rath's and the Yokai's. The demon-dog surged forward-he was almost there!

Kai-stern was on the verge of a panic-attack. He had been walking for hours and had seen no evidence that Rath was or had been anywhere on this mountain and was about to give in on the awful conclusion that the child had been caught in the avalanche back aways downhill when something glittering red caught his eye. The man hurried towards it and brushed away the snow which half-covered it. The Blue Dragon Officer's eyes widened when he saw it.

It was Rath's Light Dragon Necklace.

The man glanced about him and squinted. Through the swirling snow he saw an opening in the mountain in front of him. A cave of some sort. Kai-stern dashed into the entrance.

And gasped at the horrific sight that greeted his eyes.

A/N: Please share your fav parts, thanx!