I don't own The Legend of Dragoon, any of the characters except Ian Takahari, or the Choose Your Own Adventure book I got the concept of kuji from.

When I woke up, I was in Hoax's inn. I noticed Dart was on the next bed over. The woman who had saved him from the Giganto was standing in the room as well, arguing with Shana and Lavitz.

"I should be thanked, so why do I have to be yelled at?" she asked. Moments later, Dart awoke, looking as if he recognized the woman.

"Shana, Lavitz, relax. This is the second time she's saved my life. She was the one who rescued me from the Dragon."

The woman relaxed somewhat. "My name is Rose. I was curious about the pendent you wear, the Dragoon Spirit."

"Is that why you saved him?" Shana asked.

"I was surprised myself. You remind me of my old friends. They, too, took control of their own destinies."

"Where are they now?"

"They're dead."

"Sorry." Shana apologized. I looked on, amused. One minute Shana was biting Rose's head off, the next she was apologizing for a faux pas.

Rose turned her attention to me. "Shana and Lavitz here tell me you're in a rather unique difficulty. Trapped in another world. There was a Wingly artifact that could cause such a transference. So, you are seeking the Dark Mirror?" There was something odd about her expression, a grimness, almost.

"Yes. I suspect that the Sandorans have it, as the assassins that attacked my home were Sandoran."

"Really. I wonder how they came upon it. It was thought to be destroyed in the Dragon Campaign." She turned back to Dart. "You posses the Dragoon Spirit of the Red-Eyed Dragon. The Dragoon Spirits give humans the powers of Dragons. I carry the Spirit of the Dark Dragon. I suspect that we will be dealing with another before long. You are aware of a certain prophecy, I assume?"

Dart nodded slowly. "You mean..."

"Yes. The Diamond Dragon. It has the strongest armor of all the Dragons, as it is covered in diamonds. Even the eyelids are Diamond. It makes up for its blindness during battle by using another sense: hearing. It sends out a pulse of sound that bounces off everything in the area, sending the Dragon a sound picture of the area. With that, it can effectively 'see' as well as or better than a human. The only time it is vulnerable is when it opens its mouth for a sound pulse. When it does, it's possible to stab up through the mouth, and, hopefully, hit the brain."

A knight rushed into the room. "Sir Lavitz! The Seventh Fort is under attack! The Dragon is there!"

"What!? Let's go!" Lavitz rushed out the building, the rest of us not far behind.

We left Hoax in a hurry, hoping to save at least some of the knights at the Seventh Fort. I had a feeling of impending doom, as if something momentous were about to occur. I decided not to mention this to the others, given that they had enough on their minds, but I was nervous nonetheless.

We found the Seventh Fort in chaos, with a handful of surviving knights battling with Sandorans. I felt a deep fury building, and, without conscious thought, my hands moved through an intricate pattern, utilizing the power of the Scroll of Nine Hands. After the last gesture, the area was filled with an enormous explosion, incinerating the Sandorans, but leaving the knights intact.

Rose looked at me in shock. "What did you just do!? Are you a Wingly!?"

I sighed. "I hadn't wanted to reveal this yet, but, given my loss of control, I suppose I have no choice. No, I'm not a Wingly, but I have been training for the last two years in the art of kuji. Most who have heard of it think it magic, but in reality it's simply a manipulation of energy. To be honest, I have no idea if the gestures are necessary, but the Scroll of the Nine Hands specifies certain specific hand movements to use these abilities."

"May I see this Scroll of the Nine Hands?"

"Certainly." I pulled it out of my pack. "I made sure to recover it before fleeing my home. Next to my sword, it is probably the most important artifact of the Rage Demon Art."

She looked it over. "Can anyone use these techniques?"

"With practice, yes. Once you know what you're doing, it's actually pretty easy. As you can see from the carnage, once you've practiced enough, the techniques become ingrained, usable without conscious thought."

Rose abruptly looked around. "The Green-Tusked Dragon, Feyrbrand, was not the only Dragon here. There are signs of a battle between two Dragons here. One was trying to protect the knights."

This news made me rather nervous. "Can you tell who the other Dragon was?" I was afraid to hear the answer.

"Yes." She looked right at me. "The Diamond Dragon. And it's coming back. I can hear it."

I groaned. "How long till it gets here?"

Rose didn't bother answering. We could hear its wings. Moments later, it appeared overhead. I looked at it grimly. "Well, guys, I guess this one is up to me. Stay back."

Dart began to protest, but I cut him off. "This thing's hide is made of diamonds, remember? Besides which, from what I've heard, I'm the one who has to take it on." I removed an object from my belt. "This should ruin its day." It was a small, home-made hand grenade. I looked around, waiting for an opening.

Before I had a chance, however, it lashed out with a clawed forefoot, catching me in the side of the face. I felt agony in my left eye, but I saw my chance and tossed the grenade into its mouth. Instinctively, it bit down on the bomb, instantly turning its head to gory mush.

Upon its death, a small, diamond-like sphere drifted over to me. "Is this what I think it is?" I asked Rose.

"Yes. It's the Dragoon Spirit of the Diamond Dragon. You are now the Diamond Dragoon, albeit one with only one eye."

"What?" I raised my hand to my face and immediately regretted it. My face was covered in blood, and my left eye was missing. The shock of the discovery, combined with the injury itself, caused me to pass out.

I awoke to find my face cleaned of the blood, and an eye patch covering the upper-left side of my face. I was lying in a semi-dry portion of the remains of the Seventh Fort. Dart and the others were keeping watch, looking concerned.

When I sat up, they turned, looking relieved. "You're awake!" Shana said. I found it to be possibly the most unnecessary statement I had ever heard, but I let it pass.

"Yeah, I'm awake. How am I doing, overall?"

"Fine, except for the eye," Dart said. "We gave you a healing potion, but I'm afraid the eye is gone for good. On the plus side, Rose says your Dragoon armor should be impervious to most weapons. Only magic blades and your own Dragoon sword should be able to penetrate it. Magic, of course, will affect you as much as the rest of us, but you don't have to worry about common soldiers."

"That's good news, at least. Am I well enough to travel?"

"Sure. The only major injury was your eye, after all."

"Then let's get going. Volcano Villude, here we come." We left the Seventh Fort to the dead, and continued to the volcano.

When we arrived there, I rather wished that we had the Dragoon of Water with us. It was probably the hottest place I'd ever been. I was almost surprised that I didn't instantly burst into flames. Still, our destination was just past the place, so we had to persevere. "To blazes with this place," I muttered to myself. I was tempted to transform, but I had the feeling that, instead of cooling me off, it would just retain more heat.

A ways into the volcano, Shana suddenly ran off ahead, saying something was calling her. "Shana! Wait!" Dart shouted.

"Blast it." I readied my sword and ran after her. When we found her, she was on the ground near what appeared to be some kind of stone statue. Rose, however, looked grim.

"It's a Virage. The Winglies' answer to Dragons during the Dragon Campaign."

"That was, what, 11,000 years ago? Then why is it waking up?"

"What!?" She spun around. The Virage was hauling itself upright. "That's not good. Fortunately, it's not mature, but it still won't be easy. But now, there are three Dragoons to face it. It's your first battle as a Dragoon. Be careful."

"Right." Grasping the pendant holding the Dragoon Spirit, I began to transform. I was briefly buried in diamond, which promptly cracked, revealing my new armor. It was like Dart's in shape, but it was the color of black diamond. My eye patch , too, was black. My sword also appeared to be diamond. "Come on, let's take this thing! Diamond Storm!" The air was filled with sharp-edged diamond crystals, which immediately flew at the Virage.

It tried to retaliate by hitting me directly, but my armor simply shrugged it off. "You wanna play? Fine. Shun Goku Satsu!" The attack nearly tore the creature apart, and then Dart kicked it back into the lava, this time sending it to its doom.

Rose stood at the edge, looking down at the sinking Virage with something akin to satisfaction, while I hovered above it, wondering just what was going on. Just days previously, I'd had no idea this world even existed, and now I was caught up in the events with no way out. This fight had become personal. I now knew that Emperor Doel had sent assassins to kill me, presumably using the artifact known as the Dark Mirror, and I now also had obligations as a Dragoon. I was determined to find out as much as I could about the Dragon Campaign. If things like the Virage could live for eleven thousand years, I needed to know as much as possible about the threat.

Dart yelled back to us. "Rose! Ian! Run!" Rose and I calmly made our made back to the others.

On our way out, we were forced to fight the creature that we had run from upon entering the volcano: a thing called Fire Bird.

Dart's Dragoon magic was useless against a fire-based opponent, but his sword was another matter. After transforming, he hit with a complicated flying attack, while I prepared my own magic. When it was ready, I cast it.

"Diamond Tomb!" Flame was useless against diamond, so I had chosen a spell that encased the Fire Bird in it, effectively entombing it. It didn't kill it, but given how long it takes for diamond to deteriorate, it'd take about a million years for it to free itself.

Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews. After the next couple chapters, I'm afraid the updates will take a little longer, as the first few chapters are ones that I've had mostly complete for the last two or three months. As usual, please read and review.