Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-oh! or anything. I suggest you read Two
twails before reading this. It shed more light on the back histiry on taki
and Sarah.
The sky was the color of blood. Battered and broken bodies were strewn across the charred ground. Most of them were dead. From what she could see, there was nothing alive on this desolate, unholy ground. The bloodied corpses were starting to attract scavenger monsters from miles away. The sun was low in the sky, making the shadows of the fallen seem like fingers; trying desperately to hold onto their bodies. Slowly, a monstrous shadow slowly engulfed of what was once a battle field. All the scavengers flew for their lives, fearing the wrath of the shadow. Suddenly, the shadow let out a roar of triumph. The roar ripped through the air with so much intensity, that it made the corpses tremble in fear all over again. The shadow's mighty wings extended from its back, and trembled slightly. Then, with one push, the shadow was off into the bloody sky.
Taki was jerked awake when the dream ended. She sat up on her bed, which consisted of many saplings wrapped in a blanket, and searched for a water skin in the darkness of her tent. Finding, she put it to her lips and drank heavily from it; the images of the dream keep flooding her mind. She trembled when she put the water skin down.
"What are you trying to tell me Gaia?" Taki said as she rubbed her arms. She knew that she wasn't trembling because she was cold; she was trembling because she was scared.
Wrapping her blanket around her, she stumbled her way through her dark tent, and into the light of the Great Fire. The fire cast its intense orange color upon the ground, the dull grey tents, and the surrounding forest. The flames flickered when a wind picked up, making the dark trees sway. The temple was but a mere shadow in the darkness of night. Stars dotted the night sky and blinked every now and then.
Taki looked upon the fire, and felt her fear melt away like ice. No matter what she felt, the fire always seemed to sooth her. It was tough being a paladin. Dealing with spiritual issues among the tribe, and giving them guidance when need, caused her lots of anxiety. But when she looked at the fire, even for a brief glance, her anxiety went away. She always knew that the spirit of the tribe was among those great flames, and that gave her the courage and strength to beat any challenge that came before her.
"Trouble sleeping?" a raspy voice said behind her.
Taki jumped and looked behind her. She saw the wise woman in her white sleeping robes with her grey hair tied back, and in her common position, which consisted of her being hunched over slightly with her arms folded across her back. Belgamine hobbled ever to her side and stared into the fire.
"I saw the dream to," Belgamine said after a few minutes of silence.
"How?' Taki asked a bit shocked.
She could see Belgamine smile slightly, as if remembering her younger days. "I was once paladins to you know."
Taki mentally kicked herself. She knew that paladins had a better chance at earning the position as wise woman. "Do you know what it means?"
Belgamine sighed. "Unfortunately I don't. But what ever it means, it's not good."
Taki looked down, "I see..."
The two stood there, listening to the crackling of the fire. The wind had picked up again and made the trees rustle intensely. Taki glanced over at small clearing in the tree ling and saw the tigers, just barely visible in the fire light, sleeping soundly. Taki yawned as she watched them. She turned to Belgamine, said good night, and walked off towards her tent. She looked back at the wise women when she entered her tent and saw Goliath sitting next to her. She found her water skin when she sat down on her bed and took a long drink from it. She couldn't help, but feel that something was very wrong.
Sarah ran with all her might through the jagged rocks. She struggled for breath as she ducked behind a large boulder. The thin air of the high mountain made her dizzy and disoriented. She could see nothing but miles of bright blue sky all around her. She looked up and saw the mountain peak above her. She examined the jagged rocks and saw that there was no path. Sarah stood up and glanced behind her.
"Hopefully those traps slowed him down," Sarah gasped as she started up the jagged rock face. Her body screamed in pain and begged her to stop this trek. Sarah ignored her body's pleas and continued on. Sarah smiled when she saw what she was looking for. A gold coin shawn brightly in the high sunlight; as if guiding her to it. She quickened her pace with a grin, "Never had a chance."
Suddenly the mountain rumbled. She looked down at her previous path with worry. Quickly she summoned her staff. With the use of hand gestures and various incantations, a purple light appeared at the end of her wand. The light glowed softly as it floated off her staff, and hovered a few feet off the ground. She smiled and continued her trek; her staff at ready. The mountain shook violently again, causing her to slide down slightly. She looked back in time to see the boulder that she was one resting at explode into thousands of small chunks. Sarah managed to raise her arm up in front of her face for protection. When she lowered her arm, she saw Marcus hovering over a hole were the boulder once resided with his arms crossed and his staff bobbing in the air beside him. He had his head low, though Sarah could see that he was looking at her with cold, stern eyes. Slowly he advanced on her.
Sarah panicked and scrambled up the sharp rocks, giving her a few cuts to her bare arms and legs. She stood up with her staff ready and faced Marcus. Marcus stopped. His staff floated from his side, and hovered to the front of his body. The head of the staff started to glow yellow. A yellow beam erupted from the staff and headed straight for Sarah.
Sara grinned, "Ha! I got you now!" She swung her staff in a wide arc. The purple ball of light grew very bright and formed a curved wall in front of her. Marcus's eyes went wide and his grave face turned into a comical panicky face. He tried desperately to get out of the way of the beam, but forgot that he was hovering, so it made it look like that he was flailing around in mid-air. Sarah chuckled at this. The beam hit Marcus: and after a magnificent explosion, he was flung over the side of the mountain. Sarah knew he would be okay, and finished her mountain climb. She smiled broadly as she grabbed the gold coin.
The mountain began to shake once again. The mountainous surroundings slowly faded away, and Sarah found herself back in the white room. She could see Marcus clapping as he walked towards her.
"Never thought you would get a hang of delay magic so quickly," said Marcus. "But then again, you have been learning at a quick rate. I'll bet with a few more years at least you could be as good as Eldor."
Sarah blushed slightly.
Marcus smiled. "I guess we should call it a night."
"I guess so," Sarah yawned as they started towards the door. When they entered the dark hallway they said their good night to each other and went off towards the rooms. Sarah had gotten used to the eerie hallway, but some days, the torch light would reflect off the golden pictures a certain way and make them seemingly come alive. She hoped that would never happen because some of the beasts that were depicted in the pictures looked pretty fearsome. When she reached her door, she tapped on it with her staff, and the slab rose up with a soft grinding noise. She entered and the slab lowered itself back down. She stretched as she sat down on her soft bed. Sarah brought her hand up to her pendant and brushed her thumb against the cherry red jewel. Her cloak started glowing in an intense yellow light. She felt the fabric shit and revert back to her normal clothing. After the process was done, she lay down on her bed and folded her hands behind her head, staring up at the black ceiling. She listened to the soft gurgling of the small stream she had conjured up in the corner of her room. She could picture the water cascading down a pile of black rocks, and into a small pool at the base of it.
She sat up and looked at the small waterfall. She thought for a second. The, with a shrug, she got up off her bed and walked over to the small pool. She made a fire ball in her hand and chucked it into the pool. Instantly the pool started to bubble softly, filling the room with a thin steam. She stripped off her green tunic and black pants, and chucked them into the far corner. Sarah left her pendant on. She hadn't taken it off since she fist got it; so by now, taking it off felt awkward to her. She tested the water with her foot, and slowly, lowered herself into the hot pool. She let out a long, hard sigh as she leaned her head back against the edge of the pool. The water only made up to her collarbone. The aching in her body slowly faded away, and was replacing with a relaxing sensation. She closed her eyes slowly, and was soon asleep.
Swords were locked in place as the two warriors snarled at each other, teeth bared. The warriors pushed forward with their swords, and jumped away from each other. They glared at each other, theirs swords bright with the mid-afternoon sun. The two warriors had swords that contrasted each other. One had a long, slender sword, while the other one was broad, and curved slightly near the middle. It had a dark line running from the beautifully ornated hand guard, which was blue and had some sort of fang protruding from the side, with many small fangs hugging the sword. The line, which was black, slithered out of the hand guard and widened slightly as it traveled up the sword blade. It was like the shadow of the sword blade on it. . The warrior with the long sword had long, un-kept hair that flowed down to the small of her back like a waterfall. She held was held back by an odd-looking head piece which was a solid blue color, and was shaped like a V. Two medium-sized fang protruded from the right side, while three seemingly smaller fangs, were on the left side; two at the bottom, on at the top. She had dark, tanned skin; darker than the rest of them. She wore golden bracers on her fore arms. Her chest was covered by a solid blue chest piece which two small fangs curving back, on each side of the piece. The piece was attached to a type of skin-tight brown material, which hugged her ripped stomach. Her waist was adorned with a belt of some sort that was made of the same obscure material as her head piece, but was circling her was with many small fangs pointed down. The belt-like thing was sporting a brown loin cloth. She wore brown greave on her legs, each sport the carved fang, .like the rest of her attire.
She snarled and lunged at the smaller swordswoman. Her target looked as if it would crumble under her opponent. She had a bit of muscle, and toned abs, but not nearly as much as her adversary. She wore a dull white bra piece which was connected to a pair thin wooden shoulder pas with red feathers at the end. She had long blonde hair that went down to mid-back. She had a pair of thin, golden bracers on her fore arm;
. She had two, small gold circles which hugged the mid part of her upper thigh; they matched the same gold circles that she wore on each arm near her shoulder. The circles on her thighs were slightly covered by a dull white loin cloth. The woman winced slightly as she swung her slender sword, barely managed to parry her opponents swing. She managed to dodge another one of her opponent's swings, but look her footing on the soft grass, and landed on the ground, stunning her slightly. She managed to roll out of the way of her opponent's downward swing. Se jumped up and thrust her sword at the other swordswoman's stomach. But she was two fast though. She blocked it with the attack with an upward swing, and tried to hit the attacker with a back fist. Taki grinned as she saw this as her opening. In the blink of an eye she side-stepped out of the way of the attack and dropped her sword in the process. She grabbed her attacks wrist, and pushed her free hand under her opponent's upper arm and with one quick motion; she managed to throw her attacker over her shoulder. The built attacker landed a short distance from Taki on her back, causing the air to rush out of her lungs. Almost immediately a sword edge was pressed lightly against her dark neck. She grinned, "well done Taki!'
Taki pulled back the blade, and helped her opponent up. "I'm learning from the best Electra."
Electra smiled a bit. "Are you sure? Some of the rookie fighters can beat me."
"Are you kidding? You had to slay the Spirit to earn that armor your wearing right now!" It was a tradition in the Amazoness tribe, that fighters could become swordswoman, and train under the previous on. But in order to do so, they have to slay the Spirit, which was conjured up from the Great Fire's ashes. So it was more or less, fighting the spirit of the Amazoness tribe. As a rookie fighter, Electra took up the challenge. Now normally, the Spirit would take a sexless humanoid form, but when Electra challenged it, the Spirit took the form of a massive giant. . The spirit was at least fifteen feet, nine feet higher than the average Amazoness. Even though Electra was using her sword, it was a long fierce battle. It brought out the true warrior in her. The battle lasted well into the night, and after a quick swing of her sword, the Spirit was defeated. Instantly the Spirit vanished. But it had left the Sacred Armor in its place. Since then, Electra always wore the armor.
They both shared a chuckled in the midday sun. The day was bright and cheery. They could see the encampment, busy with life, just on the horizon. The Mystic temple was not far away from it, and it stood solemnly and seemed devoid of any life. Electra picked up her sword and rested it on her shoulder, the back of the blade on her shoulder. Taki had picked up her sheath, put it on her back, and then sheath her slender weapon. The started off towards the encampment when suddenly a thunderous roar erupted behind them. Running towards them, was a pack of dragons.
Marcus's ears twitched. He looked up from the book her was reading, and blankly stared at the dull stone wall. He sprang up from his desk chair and threw the book on the table carelessly. He opened his door and ran out bolted down the candle-lit hallway; the candle flames flickering violently as he ran. He seen Sarah walking down the hall, and as he passed her he ordered her to find Eldor. Sarah tried to ask why but Marcus was gone. He burst through the large doors and onto the vast marble platform. The midday sun reflects of the white surface and harshly stung Marcus's eye. He ignored the pain and looked around. To his left, he saw the two Amazoness running for their lives towards the safety of the encampment. He saw another Amazoness dress in a short fur and long black skirt standing beside, what he knew to be, the wise woman. In front of them was a row of six Amazoness, their bows drawn and ready, waiting for the horde of dragons to near? The Amazoness in the coat raised her arm. Marcus ran off the platform in a flash.
"Don't fire!" he shouted as he neared.
The wise woman turned around and looked at him, "And why not?"
Marcus panted, "because they are not attacking, they are frightened and hurt."
"How would you know?" She asked, while telling the archers not to fire. The Amazoness protested, but the wise woman silence her with a raised hand.
Marcus pointed and the horde of various dragons, "See how they limp slightly? That means their wings are broken. Plus the look in their eyes tells the story."
The wise woman squinted as she studied Marcus's face. He blushed slightly, the rosy cheeks standing out from his aqua colored cheeks. The wise women closed her eyes, "I believe you. You know what to do."
Marcus grinned, "You read my soul didn't you?" He asked the wise woman for a sword of any type, and almost instantly an Amazoness came to her side. She wore a light purple tunic that reached to her knees, and was tied at the waist with a piece of rope. She had big arm muscles, in which a broad, unsheathed sword in her arms. She handed the sword to Marcus, and who took off towards the horde with the sword clutched tightly in his right hand. He mumbled as he ran, and soon his white cotton shirt and black slacks turned into his dark blue magicians' cloak. He snapped his fingers and his staff struggled to keep up behind him as he ran. He ran past the two Amazoness, who seemed to be dumbfounded by his actions. When he neared the horde, he jumped high into the air and hovered over them. He could see bigger dragons, such as the Tyrant dragon leading up the horde.
'This must be bad' he said to himself as he closed his eyes and grabbed his staff. The two objects in his hand glowed with and intense silver light. With a battle cry, he slammed the two items together; immediately he was engulfed with the same light. To the Amazoness in the distance, it was like another sun. His body jerked back into an arch as his cloak started to morph. Soon the light subsided. He hovered over the horde, seemingly dead. But his new staff bobbed patiently up and down beside him. He opened his now red eyes. His yellow hair was now a dull silver color and flowed at least to his mid torso. His skin was also a dull silver color. His cloak had under gone quite a change too. The dark blue color was still dark but more solid; it reflected the sunlight fairly well like a suit of polished armor. The red highlights were gone and now were thicker and colored like gold. The cloak extended over his hands to form glove, which looked more like menacing claws. Gold highlights marked the joints. He had these small gold wings attached to his elbow by an aqua gem which seemed too merged with the cloak. The shoulder pads were broader and extended more from his back, almost like wings. He grabbed his staff, which was like a spear, but instead of a piece of pointed metal, it had a blade attached to it. The blade had gold highlight near the top and bottom of the blade, and a gem, the same color as the ones on his elbows, seemed to hold the highlights in place. The back of the blade was highlighted by the same golden material as the rest of the highlights. The end of the blade was curved like a hunting knife, but had a hook-like point were it started to curve.
He closed his free hand and extended the index and middle finger and brought it close to his face. He uttered something and the whole horde froze. Not a single breath could be drawn from the dragons. They stood as if made of stone. Marcus uttered some thing else and they all vanished. He slowly descended to the ground, the sun light gleaming off his suit. He looked at the tree line as a cloaked figured emerged. The figure stood their and watched Marcus with through the darkness of the hood with his glowing red eyes. His whole body was wrapped in the brown cloak.
"Identify yourself!" Marcus commanded in a stern cold voice as his pointed his staff sword at the figure.
"You have made the dragons disappear. What power you have, "the figure hissed as it floated towards Marcus.
"Answer me!"
"Now I have to find more dragons for my master. He will be displeased by this delay." the figure said as it stopped. The figure looked behind Marcus, and stared at the temple. If the figure had a face through that hood, it would have smiled broadly. "I see you have the three remaining Dragon Gems"
"What gems?" Marcus asked.
The cloaked figure laughed, the cloak shaking violently. "Has he not told you? He is such a fool."
Marcus scowled as he jumped at the cloaked figure, his sword staff up in the air ready for a strike. The figure vanished as the weapon nearly hit him. He reappeared behind Marcus, who was confused at the sudden teleportation.
"Being a dark magician, you should have known what I would have done. Stupid fool," The figure hissed. Marcus's eye went wide and tried to turn around, but was sent flying from a sudden outburst of energy from the figure. He skidded across the grass, causing grass stains across his polished armor. He growled as he got up and stood in a defensive stance.
"Fool. Weapons can hurt me, "the figure said as his easily dodged and on coming attack from Marcus. He sent him flying again with a burst of energy. The figure shook violently as Marcus stood up. He could hear the figure seemingly talking to it self.
"But I want to finish him off, "he sneer, but suddenly cried out in pain, " yes I will return." It looked over at Marcus, who was dumbfounded. "We will finish this fight some other time." It said before it vanished. Marcus scratched his head, trying to figure out what had transpired. With a shrug he lifted off into the air, and hovered towards the temple.
Sarah was standing next to Eldor, her staff clutched tightly in her grasp. She was in her cloak ready for a fight. It had taken her only a few minutes to find Eldor, who was running down the halls himself dispite his age. He and Belgamine ( Sarah heard Eldor call the old woman that0 were talking amongst themselves in very low tones. she could see Marcus advance towards them in a rapid pace. In no time at all he landed in front of Sarah. He stood at least a head taller than any of the Amazoness and was likely as broads them. He gripped the sword staff which both hands and reefed on it. He was immediately engulfed in the same silver light as before. In seconds he appeared in front of Sarah, in his cotton shirt, which was tucked in his black pants.
"Phooey, I didn't get to see you transform," Sarah pouted.
"You will some day, "Marcus smiled. The smile faded away as soon as he looked at Eldor. His looked at him with his cold gaze.
"What are these Dragon gems?" he asked as Belgamine walked off. He could see her talking with the two Amazoness that ran from the horde.
Eldor sighed, "I will tell you later, for I fear that we are being watched. Meet me in the library at mid-night. You too Sarah" Marcus scowled as Eldor vanished. "He always does that!" He turns, and went off towards. Sarah was left there, trying to figure out what had happened, but decided to wait to ask questions at the meeting that night.
Sarah snapped her fingers as she casually walked into the dark library. With a Fwoosh! A fire ball appeared in her open palm, and illuminated her surroundings with a dim orange light. She could see rows upon rows of books lining the circular shelves. Sarah snapped her fingers once again and a grey circle of stone appeared beneath her feet and lifted her up in the air. The soft rushing air was cool and brushed against her skin as she glanced at the book shelves in the flickering fire light. She was brought back into reality when the stone platform stopped at a vast floor way. She hopped off the platform, which quickly sped down to the floor, and walked over to a beautifully carved, wooden desk at the center of the floor. On top of it, many piles of books were carelessly stacked, with some of them opened. She picked up one of the open books and started to read; it was about ancient civilizations. She brought her hand close to the book so she could read through the light of the fire ball. Normally she wouldn't need the fire ball, since there was a glass dome for a ceiling in the library which provided enough reading light in the day time. But since it was in the middle of the night how ever, she needed the fire, and was a bit leery about using it around old books such as these.
She had read two pages when she heard foot steps behind her. She turned around and saw Marcus advancing towards the desk. She was about to greet him, but the look in his eye took her not to. She watched him lean up against the desk, folded his arms and closed his eyes; the balls of fire floated lazily around him providing more light. Sarah shrugged and went back to her reading. It wasn't long untilling she felt an ice cool sensation around her feet. She looked down and saw a purple haze snake its way around her legs. The haze traveled around the desk and started to grow into a human. With a Poof! Eldor stood at the head of the desk with Belgamine, and Taki, who was a bit awed at the means of transport, standing behind him. With a wave of his handed, two white candles appeared on the table. With a nod, they were lit.
"So," Marcus said, getting to the point, "what are these Dragon Gems?"
Eldor sighed. "These Gems contain a prodigious amount of power. Each on has its own elemental property." As if on queue, three orbs that could fit into the palm of any hand, floated out from Eldors cloak and landed softly on the desk. The candle light seemed to hug two of the orbs in its dull orange light. Eldor pointed to the green one. "With the help of the Dark Scorpion gang, we where able to get a hold of it before it fell into the wrong hands. It one controls the element of wind. "Sarah gasped. She had seen that Gem the same day she had arrived on the island. If only the merchant knew of its history. Eldor pointed to the black one, the light made a slight purple glow around it, "This one controls the powers of darkness." He pointed to the last orb. It was a fiery red color and stood out the most. "This one controls the fury of fire."
"That's it?" Marcus said, sounding a bit disappointed, "we can do the very same thing with our magic."
"True Marcus, very true. But the gems can do more than just that," Eldor looked at Marcus sternly," But they can summon the Divide Beast know as the Five-God Dragon."
Marcus's eyes went wide. He stood up and looked at them. "Just how did we get these? I mean, if anybody knew of their power everybody would be looking for them."
"Right again Marcus. Meaningless wars have been fought for centuries for the power of these gems. For when one summons the Dragon, it must do whatever it master wishes of it. Fortunately the gem's legend has been forgotten over time. Luckily the gems found themselves in the right hands over the years. One of the previous sages of the temple must have found the gem of darkness and knew of the legend. Thankfully he hid it. As for the others...." Eldor trailed off.
Marcus looked up from the round gems." You mean they're still out there?"
"Yes. But we still have three of the five gems required for the summoning ritual. Luckily I managed to contact Belgamine on this issue." Eldor said as he stepped aside and let the ancient women step up to the desk.
"Centuries ago, the Dragon Gem of fire fell into the hands of our tribe and has been in our possession ever since. Our tribe was small then. Men from the cities heard about this and warred with us over the gem. Thankfully, with Gaia's help and the power of the Gem, we managed to hide it in the most unsuspecting place, "Belgamine glanced over at Taki, who seemed engulfed by the legend. "We had managed to hide it in the Great Fire. "Taki was jerked out of her mysticism and glared at Belgamine. She was about to say something but Belgamine lifted her hand, silencing her. Sarah could see through the dim light the anger in Taki's eyes.
"So how does one summon the dragon?" Marcus asked, putting his fingers around his chin.
"That we do not know. But from what I know is that when the dragon is summoned, its master will go insane because of the power from the dragon. Unless of course the summoner has immense magic powers and has total control over it. "
Marcus frowned. "This information sounds as if it has happened before."
"It has indeed Marcus. But that was many millennia ago. That's how though power of the gems was known. We do not know how it all came to be, but we know for sure that these items are deadly weapons and are not to be treated lightly."
"This might explain what happened today." Marcus said. Eldor looked at him. "You know how a horde of dragons was stampeding through the clearing right? Well there was this mad made seemingly of a black cloak. From what I saw of his face, he had red eyes. Before we fought, he said that he had to collect dragons. He also figured out that we had the three remaining dragon gems."
Eldor looked at him sternly. "You know what this means do you?" Marcus nodded. Sarah's ears perked up and brought her back to the conversation that she had spaced out on quite awhile ago. "We must be ready for attack."
Marcus nodded, turned away, and walked onto an awaiting circular platform. In an instant, he was whisked away to the floor. Immediately the three orbs flew back into Eldors's cloak. Sarah looked at him. "Will we really be attacked?"
Eldor shook his head. "I don't know young one. But if a horde runs away from one man, we must be ready for anything. "
Sarah bit her lip.
"But be on your guard." Eldor disappeared in a puff of purple haze along with Taki and Belgamine. Sarah was only left with her thoughts and the light of the candles...
Taki stormed out of the tent in a fit of rage. She was really mad. Why hadn't she told her that a powerful item such as the Dragon Gem of fire be hidden amongst her tribe? More so, why didn't she tell the other Amazoness? She was too much in a bad mood to ask questions, so instead she decided to take a nice long walk in the starry night. She walked past the Great Fire that lit the camp up in an orange glow and gave a look of disgust. She exited the encampment hastily, lost in her thoughts. What happens if the dragon is summoned? Would they all die? More so, what if someone found out that we had the gem? Questions raced through her head, it was giving her quite the headache. Her thinking was disrupted when she bumped into the marble platform. She cursed as she rubbed her head. This was only adding to her frustrations. Taki took a deep breath, rested her back against the stone, and slid down into a sitting position. She folded her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and looked up at the star-filled night sky. She could hear the sound of insects clicking softly all around it. The stone felt cool against her back and made her a bit aware of a soft breeze picking up. She shivered slightly as she watched the camp. The fire looked like a small torch flame in the distance. The light from it engulfed the camp in a magnificent orange glow; leaving only the back ends of the tents in the shadows. It was very peaceful and relaxing. Soon, her anger slowly drained away like sand through one fingers. Closing her eyes, Taki basked in the peacefulness of the night.
Suddenly, she heard a soft thudding noise beside her. With lightning fast reflexes, (thanks to training with Electra) se had the tip of her sword against the new comer's neck. Immediately Sarah brought her hands up. "I'm not here to hurt you!"
It took a few seconds for Taki to register what was going on. Quickly she brought her sword away from Sarah's neck and sheathed it in one fluid moment. "Sorry. Just a bit jumpy."
"That's okay," Sarah puffed, trying to catch her breath. After catching her breath, she sat down cross legged on the cool grass and relaxed slightly. She looked over at Taki, who was sitting down again and smiled. "I don't think we've been formally introduced yet. I'm Sarah."
"I'm Taki."
Sarah said hi and looked up at the stars following an awkward silence.
"So what's wrong with your friend there?" Taki said, breaking the silence.
Sarah jumped and bit and looked at Taki. She hadn't expected her to ask that question. Sarah sighed. "You mean Marcus? He was born like that."
"Oh?"
"You see, Marcus with a condition called Magi. It's a condition were you have raw magical energy flowing through you, hence the unusual color of his skin."
"Is the condition bad?"
" Well, aside from being shunned from all forms of normal society," Sarah said dryly, " you can control magic a lot better and learn it four times faster than any normal Dark Magician. But that's not all. You Magi you can use fusion magic. "
Taki looked at her awe at her knowledge of this subject.
Sarah continued. "Fusion magic is a hard magic to control. It's were you take two unlikely things and fuse them together to make something new. It can only happen with organic material or it will not work. This phenomenon does happen in the wild. However, in order for the creatures to fuse, depends on were they are and what their biorhythms are like. If their rhythms are not synchronized or if the creatures are old, they will not fuse. But when these creatures do fuse, you'll get one strong creature. It's why fusion magic is very hard to control and learn: you literally have to strip things down to their molecular levels and reassemble it one molecule at a time."
"How is it that you know of this information?"
"Well..." Sarah blushed slightly, "Ever since I was a kid, I always had a thirst. Practically everyday of my life I've spent learning something new; whether it is a simple card trick or the history of an ancient civilization."
Taki looked at her intenly. There was more to this girl that she had let one from e brief encounters she had with her. Se knew that with a few more years of training, she could become a great dark magician. She shook her head and suddenly felt that her eye lids were very heavy. She stood up, and stretched, "Well I should be off to bed now. It was nice getting to know you."
Sarah chuckled. "Good night."
Taki smiled and walked of towards the encampment.
Weeks past uneventfully; except that the new generation of tiger cubs finally came. Most of the tribe hadn't expected them to be born, with the move and all. Sarah now practically lived in the library. She wanted to know all she could about the Five-God Dragon. She scoured old history books, only to find paragraphs that only outlined and unexplained event. She hadn't seen Marcus much since that night, probably experimenting with those gems Sarah said. Eldor and Belgamine had disappeared entirely; which seemed odd because she would see Eldor walking the halls.
She and Taki had been visiting each other every night since that one night. They both were forging a good friendship. Taki had told her about her life and the history of the tribe. While Sarah told her more of her past before she made the pilgrimage to the temple. When Taki asked about her parents, Sarah just shrugged and said that they had died when she was at a young age. She had been living with relatives since. To ease the pain, Sarah's yearning to learn was amplified. Over the years, the pain of her parents' death had been healed, but it still pains her deeply that she couldn't even remember her parents face.
The temple shook violently, causing books to fall off the shelves and crash to the floor. Sarah jerked awake trying to figure out what was going on. The temple shook again and she knew what was instantly going on: the temple was being attacked. She sprung out of her chair and dashed through the door and into the long hallway. She was behind a group of male magicians, whose cloaks started to form around them. Sarah did the same and was done as soon as they erupted through the big door and onto the bright platform. She gasped at the sight that was before her.
Grisly monsters, about as tall and broad as the Amazoness tribe, were being fallen by spells from attacking magicians. But it seemed as if when one fell, about five other took its place. The Amazoness was bringing up the melee part of the battle. Arrows rained from the sky and struck down the monsters. The fighters and every other able battle worthy Amazoness were in the melee fray, save for the ones that chose bows over swords. She saw a red haired Amazoness fight like a possessed demon and cleaved down the monsters like a farm cutting his fields; the black blood on her glistened in the afternoon sun. She looked at the tree line and saw more of the monsters came flooding out. Suddenly she was shoved to the ground, her body harshly slapping against the limestone. She looked up a bit disorientated, and saw Marcus, fully clad in his magician's cloak, hit back a ball of black energy. She fooled the balls trail and saw that it hit a cloaked figure. The figure looked like the other ones, all humanoid and sexless, but had on a robe. The figure fell to the ground in a bone shattering crunch and vanished in a few seconds. Sarah saw other similar figure up in the air, each launching balls of energy at the now damaged temple.
Marcus looked down at Sarah, a stern expression on his face, "You take care of the magician in the air, while I help the Amazoness." Before she could protest, Marcus bounded towards the battle on the ground. He managed to get his way over to the red haired Amazoness. She talked to her briefly, ad touched her sword with is staff. Instantly lightning swirled around it. Sarah swore she could see a grin on the Amazoness face. She chuckled slightly, but was brought back to reality when a ball of energy exploded near her feet, making a rough indent in the limestone and casting fly chunks every where.
Sarah glared at the magician angrily, who was preparing another energy ball. She twirled her staff in front of, causing energy to evaporate off of it. A ball of dark energy formed at the swirled tip of the staff. Sarah swung her staff at the magician causing the ball to fly off her staff and hit the magician dead on. The magician cried out in pain as it fell to the ground. She hoped that the magicians knew the same spells as her, because it was going to be a long battle.
Taki's legs shook violently as she ran towards the stand-still. She was very afraid of what might happen. Taki had virtually no battle experience, and the only kind she got was with Electra, and those were in controlled state. She knew that anything could happen. Uttering a prayer to Gaia, she leapt into the air with a battle cry, her sword high above her head. She swung down as she hit the ground, and cleaved one creature right down the middle; black blood plashing all over her. In an instant she was cleaving down every black figure she could see. She would have to thank one of the blacksmiths for sharpening her sword earlier that day. She heard growling behind her, causing her spirits to soars to highs she never knew. The tigers had lept into the fray and started attacking savagely. In her minds eye, Taki could see them tearing the intruders apart with the massive claws and teeth. With these reinforcments, the black monsters seemed to attack more intensely. She cleaved down one monster and saw an arrow flying straight for her head. She dodged and looked behind her, the arrow had struck a creature between its eyes (if there were any) who was ready to attack her. She looked forward and saw Meryl winked at her with a sly grin on her face as she readied an arrow and fired. Taki chuckled as she brought down another monster.
Everything seemed to sharpen when an explosion erupted from the temple. She looked over and saw magicians and chunks of limestone fly trhough the air. She gasped when she saw Sarah in the fray. A black cloaked figure flew through the smoke laughing as three orbs hovered around it. Taki cursed as she blocked an attack from one of the monsters and cleaved it down. She saw the figure hover over the battle and yell, "To me my kinsman!" Instantly the monsters vanished in a wisp of black smoke. It grew silently instantly, leaving and eerie feeling in the air. She dropped her sword on the blood soaked ground in sadness. She saw the bodies of magicians and Amazoness alike lying lifelessly in pools of their blood. She saw a battered Marcus help Sarah slowly to her feet, who wasn't looking any better than him. She saw Electra using her sword to help her up off the ground. Instantly she vomited on the ground, not being used to battle. Black blood coated her body like fine oil. She felt dizzy and stumbled across the earth. Soon she could see the ground rushing up towards her...
Sarah stared at the fire with a blank expression on her face. The fire felt comforting and soothing. All around her magicians and Amazoness were treating each others wounds. The bandaged sat in little groups and talked amongst themselves. Sarah winced in pain as she looked up at the bright stars. When the explosion tore through the temple, Sarah was flown through the air and crashed into the ground very hard. She had broken a few ribs upon impact. She jerked as she felt a heavy hand rest on her shoulder. She turned around and saw the red-haired Amazoness wearing a cold expression, probably due to the fact that her arm was in a sling. "She's up."
Sarah nodded and gingerly got up off the stump that she was sitting on. She trudged on towards tent in pain. When she entered, she saw Eldor and Belgamine contemplating their next move on this situation. Sarah was about to bombarded them with questions on why they weren't in the fight, but she held back when she saw that Eldor had his left arm in a sling, and Belgamine had her left eye covered by bandages. They must have been inside the sanctum of the temple fighting that person, Sarah said to her self as she sat on a stool near the bed. She looked over and saw Taki, her torso bandaged, looking down at the corner of the blanket as she fidgeted with it. Sarah was about to say something but Eldor spoke up. "As you are aware of, the gems have been stolen."
"So how do we get them back?" Taki asked, looking up from the corner of the blanket.
"I placed a spell on them so that we could track the location of them at any given moment." Eldor answered as he paced around the brightly lit tent. "The distance is two great to travel on foot, but I can teleport you their."
Sarah glared at Eldor with all the anger she could muster. " You can US to follow the gems, and their being a good chance that the Divine Being might be summoned BEFORE we arrive?!"
Eldor cast a downward glance. "Yes. But we feel that you are strong enough to take this task on."
"What do you mean?"
"Your magical abilities have grown at such a prodigious rate, that you have surpassed me in magical talent. Though, you lack the spells that I know."
Sarah sat there in awe. She knew that she was strong but this. This was as if some one told her that she had been given a whole mountain of gold. Even though she lacked the complicated and strong spells that Eldor knew. Eldor continued. "Though we will be sending Marcus to help you both out. This is a heavy burden I have put on your shoulders." Eldor exited the tent, followed by Belgamine. Sarah and Taki both sat in a thick silence. Were they really this strong? They asked themselves. The silence was broken when Marcus entered the ten with two small cups. Sarah looked up and saw that Marcus had a few cuts on his face and had a bit of dried black blood on his face. 'Here drink this. Belgamine said it would heal you."
They both took they cups. Sarah drank it down in a flash and immediately felt better, though it had a very bitter after taste. She looked over at Taki, who was staring down at the contents of the cup. "What's wrong?"
"This is too big of a task for us." Taki sniffed as she drunk the contents of the cup.
"Hey listen, " Sarah said as she put a reassuring had on Taki's shoulder." How about when this is over, we take a long trip some where. You know take a long break from everything and relax. "
"I can't. I'm the paladin of my tribe, "Taki sniffed once again.
"Don't give me that. I'm sure Belgamine will understand that you need long break from it." Sarah smiled as Taki looked up.
"You think she will?" Taki asked.
"Yup."
Taki smiled at Sarah's bravery and confidence. "I guess we should get ready."
Sarah nodded, and sat up. She realized that the pain was gone now and knew that her ribs were healed. She wondered what was in that drink as she exited the tent. She saw Marcus standing by the fire, fully cloak. He must have slipped out when we were talking, Sarah said to herself. She walked to his side and stared into the fire for a few minutes.
"Ready?" She asked as she changed into her cloak.
"Yup," Marcus said as they turned around and walked to the edge of encampment. The wounded magician and Amazoness were sleeping soundly with there head resting on bunched up articles of clothing. Sarah chuckled a bit when she saw a tiger and a magician curled up beside each other, sleeping soundly. A serious tone hung in the air as they met up with Belgamine and Eldor. Taki was already standing in front of them. Her eyes were closed and her hands rest on the hilt of her sword, which was stuck in the ground. Sarah knew that she was praying for their protection and hoped that the prayer would be answered. Taki opened her eyes and nodded at Eldor. He nodded back and started to utter something as he waved his staff in the air. Thick purple smoke belched from the staff and engulfed the group of frightened warriors. Sarah suddenly became disoriented and dizzy as the surroundings around her started to shift and swirl.
"May Gaia be with you." was all she heard as her vision went black.
"Are the preparations ready?" A figure asked from deep within the shadows of the chasm.
"Yes master. Everything is all set, "the cloaked figure said as he laid a round blue gem next to the other gems.
"You have done well Arka."
"Thank you master, you are to kind." Arka could have smiled if he could.
A black mist emerged from the shadows and slowly took form. He had long silver hair and had brown skin. He wore a magicians cloak similar to Marcus's but was black instead of blue, and had bright red highlights. He snapped his fingers and a staff, the same color as his cloak, appeared. "Soon, the power will be mine.".....
The group crouched near the entrance of the cave. They could see Arka standing next to the magician. All five of the gems were laid out in a straight line, and sat on a flat stone in front of a huge white lake.
"What's that?" Taki whispered as she noticed the white lake that seemed to extend into a endless black void.
"That is raw magical energy," Marcus answered back in a low whispers, ' It's the reason why this chasm has an abnormal color to it."
Taki's questions on why the cave was a dark purple color and sparkled were answered She heard the magician in the red cloak start to utter something. Instantly, Marcus sprang from their hiding place and launched a fire ball at the magician. It hit full force and sent him sprawling across the rocky ground. He glared at Marcus. "You"
"Shall I take care of them master?" Arka asked as he saw Sarah and Taki jump behind Marcus.
"You can have the women, but Marcus is mine," the Magician growled as he got up and pointed his staff at Marcus.
"Haven't seen you for a long time Aion. How have you been?" Marcus smirked. Sarah looked at Marcus with a frown and wondered what the relationship was between the two magicians. Marcus sprang forwards as his staff started to glow with magical energy. Aion did the same and the two staffs collided with each other sending out bolts of magical energy into the air.
"getting stronger than you brother," Aion snarled as pushed Marcus away with his staff. He uttered something and a black ball fire from his staff. Marcus blocked it and attacked with a fireball. Aion dodged it and flew towards of the magical lake. Marcus growled and followed at the same break neck pace.
Sarah watched the battle between the two magicians intently. Her audience was interrupted when Arka tackled her to the ground.
"I'm going to have fun with you," Arka seemed to grin. Sarah shuddered in disgust as she wondered what went through his mind. Sarah saw a streak of white light fly through the air and strike Arka down.
"Thanks Taki, " Sarah said as she stood up, her staff pointed at Arka who was getting up off the ground.
"No problem," Taki said as she got into a battle stance.
"You are powerful indeed," Arka laughed as he got up. He seemed to be made entirely out of a black cloak. "But I know how to deal with you two." Arka glowed with a black light. Sarah feared what of what was about to come. Arka cried out in pain as he grew taller and broader. The light subsided and Sarah gasped. Standing a mere five feet from her, was an exact copy of her. Or it would have been. Her copy had light brown skin and long silver hair like Sarah's. Her cloak was red and was highlighted the same was except the lines were a deep black color. Instead of the cherry red gems that adorned various parts of her body, her clones were a deep blue color. Instead of a pink skirt, she had a faded black one Instead of the sky blue staff with the round cinnamon bun-like swirl at the top; her clone had a black staff with the same swirl but was in a square fashion. It was like looking into a mirror for Sarah. More like an evil mirror. She could see the seductiveness in her cones eyes instead of the innocence in hers.
"I told you I would have fun with you!" Arka chuckled. Instead of Arka's previous voce, she heard a smooth seductive voice.
"Wh...What are you?" Sarah stuttered.
" I'm what you magicians would call a shifter. I can take anyform I touch," Arka grinned evilly.
Sarah suddenly felt violated and dirty. She gritted her teeth and glared at her. A ball of black energy form at the top of her staff, and with a mighty swing she flung the ball at Arka laughed and dodged it easily and countered with her own. The ball hit Sarah squarely in the stomach and sent her flying into the jagged rock wall. She growled as she got up. Taki watched in awe as Sarah launched another energy attack. Instead of dodging and countering with her own, Arka slammed the head of her staff to the ground causing two purple cylinders of energy to form on each side of her. The energy ball flew into one of the cylinders and came out shooting out of the other one straight for Sarah. She yelped and barely managed to jump out of the way. Sarah got up and glared at her opponent. Arka laughed, "Fool."
"She's stronger than me so watch out..." Sarah said to Taki in a barely audible whisper. Taki suddenly felt very nervous.
Arka sneered as she put her hands on her hips. " Ha! Is that all you got?" Arka laughed and raised her staff over her head and twirled it. Lightning was forming at the tip of her staff. "I thought this fight would last longer. A pity." She ripped her electrically charged staff from the air and centers it with her torso. The charge flew from the tip of her staff in a wide beam and went straight for the two women. The women jumped to the side as the bolt hit their previous location. Taki ran straight for Arka her sword at her side ready to strike. Arka laughed. "You two are more desperate than I thought!" She charged up her staff once more and was about to bring it town on Taki's incoming skull. But Taki had other plans. She dropped to the ground and slid between Arka's spread legs, making her miss Taki. Before Arka had anytime to react, she was hit with huge fire ball, sending her flying in the air. Taki crouch and held her sword up high above her. She closed her eyes tightly and uttered a quick prayer as she felt something slide onto her awaiting blade. she could feel the warm blood dripping onto her golden hair. She could feel it running down her tanned arms. she lowered the sword to the ground and got up on shaking legs. She could see the agony of silent scream on Akra's face like a stone statue. Her eyes were wide from the sudden shock. Black blood began to ooze slowly from the wound and started a pool around her upon the dark purple rocks. Taki noticed that her sword had enter the back of her rib cage and exited through her chest cavity; piercing her heart in the process. Lucky strike I guess.
Sarah slowly walked up beside her and stood in silence as she looked at the corpse of her evil clone. A chill went down her as she saw that the likeness was astounding.
"Now for the gems," Taki said as she turned to her left and walked towards the coloured gems. Sarah followed her. Taki tried to reach out and grab one but was shot back with a strong magical force. She hit the opposite wall and gasped as the air was forced out of her lungs. Sarah ran to her side as she slid to the ground.
"You okay?" Sarah asked as she put a hand on her friends shoulder.
"Yeah...I'm...fine," Taki said, gasping for air," But...the gems...seem...to be...protected...by something."
"Sarah looked over at the gems and saw that they were glowing. The gems slowly rose into the air and formed a circle. The gems spun around in a circle and finally flung themselves into the pulsing lake. After a few seconds the whole chasm began to shake violently causing rocks to fall from the ceiling and fall into the lake.
"Let's get out of here!" Sarah said as she helped her friend up. Taki ran over to Akra's corpse. She turned the body on its stomach and yanked out her sword. She quickly wiped the blade off with her thumb and fore finger and bounded off towards Sarah, who was waiting for her at the entrance. The pair exited the cave just as the entrance collapsed...
The two magicians flew at high speeds over the lake of energy. They flew close to the surface, that if any slip up, they would plunge into its depths. Every time they got near, their staffs clashed, canceling out the others spell. It looked to Marcus that it would be a mille fight than anything else.
"Why did you do it brother?" Marcus asked as he deflected a swing from Aion.
"Because I wanted power!" Aion said as he blocked a jab from Marcus's staff. The two twirled in the air as they exchanged and blocks jabs and swings.
"That is why Eldor cast you out of the temple!" Marcus said as he knocked Aion away, giving him room to fly away from the energy.
They were both born as Magi. Shunned from society, and turning to books and lore, Marcus and Aion found out about the temple. Both in their early teens, they set out to find the temple. When they found it, they were happy and knew that their troubles went away. But as time passed, Marcus noticed a change in Aion. He got really aggressive outside and inside of the training matches. It was that Eldor realized that Aion was power hungry and only sought to fulfill his own greedy needs. Eldor then banished him from the temple forever. Before Aion disappeared into the forest, Aion turned back and vowed that he would be back one day with more power than they could imagine and seek revenge. It looked as if Aion has found that power Marcus said to himself, mentally reliving that day. He was brought out of his memories when be barely managed to block an incoming attack from Aion.
Suddenly the energy lake began to rip violently. He could see the dim purple roof through the glow of the lake of energy, and saw it cracking. Aion laughed. "The ritual is done!" He took off towards the back of the chasm, Marcus tried to follow but his pursuit was cut off when a column of energy shot up from the lake and blocked his back. Uttering an incantation, Marcus thrust his staff in the air and a green beam off light shot from it a cut a perfectly smooth hole above him. He kicked himself from his hovering point and bolted through the hole knowing full well what was about to happen...
Sarah and Taki jumped clear from the entrance of the cave as it collapsed behind them. They slid across the purple rocks slightly when they landed. The looked back with a sense of relief on their face knowing full well what was going to happen. They picked themselves off the ground and dusted themselves off. They could see eerie moonlit shadows all around them, courtesy of the full moon that shone brightly in the cloudless sky. They looked up in time to see Marcus erupt from the mountain. They waved at him, signifying that they were okay. He waved back with a smile. They air around tem was very still. Not even the lowliest incest chirped its nightly orchestra. All around them it was just a barren wasteland for miles made up of purple rock. Suddenly the ground shook violently again, knocking the girls off the feet. They heard a loud roar and their hearts leapt to their throats. The cave suddenly exploded, sending thousands of pieces of purple rock everywhere. The Sarah barely managed to cast a force field around them as huge chucks of rock landed beside them. She searched the moonlit sky for Marcus but saw no sign of him. She was really worried now, because she knew that Marcus was carried of by a big chunk of rock. Sarah noticed that it suddenly got very dark around them. They both looked u and could have died from the shock of what they saw.
The massive dragon loomed over them like a vulture; it's five head bobbing up and down as if eyeing its meal. The dragon's body was massive and was a dull yellow colour and was dotted by faded brown spots. It had a huge wing span, easily the size of five roofs. Sarah noticed the massive muscles in its thick arms and legs, and also noticed its sharp gleaming claws. Its white plated stomach seemed to glow on the moon light. Sarah noticed that each head had a distinct and unique trait to it. The head of fire seemed to be completely made of fire, expect that it had a long neck like the rest and had a head shaped like a mean looking dragon. the head of earth was had the same coloured skin as it's body, but had dull horns jutting out off the top of it's head. The head of wind had to horns the jutted away from its eyes in a V shape and was a magnificent silver colour. Behing the earth and wind head was the head of darkness. The head of darkness was complete black. Red glowing eye seemed to conflict with the rest of it's color. Finally, the head of water rested between the fire and earth head. On its sides, it had two blue fins and was completely covered by an ocean blue color. All five head had long necks like a snake. A laugh brought both Sarah and Taki back to their senses.
"This is the power that I have achieved!" Aion said as he hovered over the great dragon. "To bad Marcus was thrown off by a stray boulder. You two will be a fine morsel for my dragon!"
The girls shuddered in fear as they got up and face the dragon; their weapons held up ready for attack. Aion laugh. "Pathetic I'll have the pleaure of crushing you!" Aion croosed his arms and started to spin in the air. Slowly he descended onto the dragon. But he didn't stop. He continued to drill into the dragon, ignoring the crying please from the dragon. Slowly, the yellow body was replaced by black and red stripes. They both knew that the dragon was possessed buy Aion.
"I can feel every spec of dust in the air!" The head of darkness roared in the air. Taki knew that they were both in big trouble. "So any ideas?" Taki asked with a nervous smile, trying to lighten the mood.
"Not a single one," Sarah said as she made a ball of dark energy with her staff," The best we can do is hit I hard and hit it fast!" she flung the ball of energy at the earth head. It hit dead on and it howled in pain.
"You shall pay for that!" The head said .The body began to stomp its feet on the ground, causing it to shake. The girls fought to keep their balance. When they did, they saw a massive yellow tail swinging right for them. They didn't even have enough time to blink when the tail hit them. The girls flew through the air and skidded across the rock in a heap of pain. The laid there moaning when their painful journey was over. Aion laugh, using one of the dragons heads. He stomped his massive feet again. This time the fire head thrust forth and fired a jet of fire towards the battered women. Before the stream of fire hit, savagely purple wall came up over them and deflected the attack back towards Aion. Aion grunted in pain as the head of earth fell limp.
"Who..." Sarah whispered painfully.
"Me," Marcus said as he knelt down beside Sarah. "You took a major blow."
Sarah tried to chuckled, but winced instead. She then finally realized that Marcus's cloak looked different. He had transformed into his other form.
"I se you transformed..." Sarah faintly said before she passed out due to pain. Marcus quickly went over to Taki who was unconscious as well. Marcus slammed the end of his sword staff on the ground, casting a force shield around the two girls. He turned to Aion, but almost jumped out of his skin when he saw the head of darkness hovering right beside him its black teeth gleaming evilly in the moonlight. Instinctively, he stabbed out one of its eyes with his blade. Aion reeled back and grabbed the scaly face.
"You will pay for that!" Aion screamed as he stomped around.
"I see that you used your fusion magic to fuse with the dragon!" Marcus said with a hint of excitement in his voice. "But that was wrong move!" He floated up into the air and curled up into a tight ball. He jerked out off the position and started to glow blue. The dragon glowed the same color as Marcus.
"Fool what you are doing!" Aion said as he unleashed a jet of water from the water head's mouth. It missed entirely.
"I'm stealing some of your power since you are a dragon, since my new abilities allow me to do so," Marcus smirked as the glowing subsided. Aion felt weaker know, yet he felt confident enough to charge Marcus, its large clawed feet cracking the ground. With one mighty swing, a claw came rushing towards Marcus. He easily dodges and attack with a slash up Aion's new arm. Aion screamed and tried to bat him with his tail, but missed again. Marcus flew up to the base of the wind heads neck, and with one quick swipe of his sword staff, he severed the neck from the body. With a crash, the head fell to the ground and lay there lifelessly. Oddly enough Aion felt no pain, but kept up his intense melee onslaught. With every attack, Aion either got a deep gash on his arms, or got a head cut off. Now he had only two heads left: the fire head and the darkness head, though it only had one god eye left. The other three lay lifelessly on the ground. Marcus was a bit banged up to, though only from a few sucker hits and covered in black blood.
The two squared off, Marcus glared at his now dragon for a brother as he bobbed up and down in the air clutching his sword staff.
" It's seems that you are winning brother," The darkness head grinned," but I believe that I have the upper hand!"
"What do you mean?" His question was answered when head was hit by a beam of intense orange light. He was knocked to the ground with a bone shattering force. He groaned as he stopped sliding across the gravel. He body was slowly engulfed by silver light and hit cloak was gone. He know laid their in his white cotton shirt and black pants. He looked as if he was going to a dinner party if you ignored the black blood that soaked his blonde hair.
Aion laughed. "There's one spell that you never learnt: Raigeki!" The two remaining heads moved close to each other; their mouths glowing like candles. The heads jerked back as the beam was fired at Marcus's broken body. Suddenly a purple cylinder of energy formed in front of Marcus and caught the blast head on. The cylinder flipped over and launched the attack back at Aion. Aion looked to his right with his two heads. "You!" he saw Sarah smile as she fell lifelessly back to the ground and back into the peaceful unconsciousness. Aion had no time to react when the beam hit him. The head roared out in pain as light began to crack all over his body. Suddenly, the light burst from his body instantly vaporizing it. It any one had been partially conscious, they would have even the most spectacular light show in their lives. But unfortunately, they weren't....
Taki rolled over on her soft sapling wrapped bed. Frown as se felt the bed with her hand. Her eyes sot open and jerked up into a sitting position, but quickly regretted that decision when a wave of pain engulfed her. She slowly lay back down on the bed.
"We did it," She smiled. Taki heard the tent flap open and saw Electra walk in and sit at the foot of her bed.
'I guess you made it huh?"
"Yup. Though we broke a few bones in the process," Taki said as she felt her ribs through the bandages that wrapped her torso.
"Meh," Electra said, "bones are easy to heal."
It was then Taki noticed that Electra wasn't wearing a sling. Taki asked why.
"You've been out for a week or two and I do heal pretty fast..." Electra said as she rubbed the back of her head.
"A few weeks!" Taki exclaimed as she sat up, only to be greeted by more pain. She lay back down.
"Yup. That blow you took was a hard one."
"I guess Marcus told you all what had gone on."
"He did when he woke up a few days later. He's doing fine now, but was an utter mess when he was brought in by the archer team that followed you."
Taki was about to ask a few more questions, like how Sarah was, but soon fell into a deep sleep. Even though the slept for weeks, she was still very tired. She dreamt tat she was off on a sunny beach on a far away land with Sarah lying beside her...
Days past. After some recovering from the injuries a bit better, Sarah, Marcus, and Taki were treated to an awards ceremony Taki found out that Sarah had suffered a few broken bones in her arms and torso, but would be fine after a few weeks. Marcus had a few bruises on his arms and face due to the battle with Aion in his both forms. A feast was held in their great bravery and honor. The festivities lasted for days, even though nobody besides the magicians and the Amazoness knew of the incident. Marcus told Sarah and Taki the story on how he and Aion were brothers. I made a lot more sense to them than just figuring it out themselves after a few weeks of major healing; Sarah took Taki on a vacation on a far away land. Taki was hesitant to ask Belgamine about it, but she said she deserved it.
The sky was the color of blood. Battered and broken bodies were strewn across the charred ground. Most of them were dead. From what she could see, there was nothing alive on this desolate, unholy ground. The bloodied corpses were starting to attract scavenger monsters from miles away. The sun was low in the sky, making the shadows of the fallen seem like fingers; trying desperately to hold onto their bodies. Slowly, a monstrous shadow slowly engulfed of what was once a battle field. All the scavengers flew for their lives, fearing the wrath of the shadow. Suddenly, the shadow let out a roar of triumph. The roar ripped through the air with so much intensity, that it made the corpses tremble in fear all over again. The shadow's mighty wings extended from its back, and trembled slightly. Then, with one push, the shadow was off into the bloody sky.
Taki was jerked awake when the dream ended. She sat up on her bed, which consisted of many saplings wrapped in a blanket, and searched for a water skin in the darkness of her tent. Finding, she put it to her lips and drank heavily from it; the images of the dream keep flooding her mind. She trembled when she put the water skin down.
"What are you trying to tell me Gaia?" Taki said as she rubbed her arms. She knew that she wasn't trembling because she was cold; she was trembling because she was scared.
Wrapping her blanket around her, she stumbled her way through her dark tent, and into the light of the Great Fire. The fire cast its intense orange color upon the ground, the dull grey tents, and the surrounding forest. The flames flickered when a wind picked up, making the dark trees sway. The temple was but a mere shadow in the darkness of night. Stars dotted the night sky and blinked every now and then.
Taki looked upon the fire, and felt her fear melt away like ice. No matter what she felt, the fire always seemed to sooth her. It was tough being a paladin. Dealing with spiritual issues among the tribe, and giving them guidance when need, caused her lots of anxiety. But when she looked at the fire, even for a brief glance, her anxiety went away. She always knew that the spirit of the tribe was among those great flames, and that gave her the courage and strength to beat any challenge that came before her.
"Trouble sleeping?" a raspy voice said behind her.
Taki jumped and looked behind her. She saw the wise woman in her white sleeping robes with her grey hair tied back, and in her common position, which consisted of her being hunched over slightly with her arms folded across her back. Belgamine hobbled ever to her side and stared into the fire.
"I saw the dream to," Belgamine said after a few minutes of silence.
"How?' Taki asked a bit shocked.
She could see Belgamine smile slightly, as if remembering her younger days. "I was once paladins to you know."
Taki mentally kicked herself. She knew that paladins had a better chance at earning the position as wise woman. "Do you know what it means?"
Belgamine sighed. "Unfortunately I don't. But what ever it means, it's not good."
Taki looked down, "I see..."
The two stood there, listening to the crackling of the fire. The wind had picked up again and made the trees rustle intensely. Taki glanced over at small clearing in the tree ling and saw the tigers, just barely visible in the fire light, sleeping soundly. Taki yawned as she watched them. She turned to Belgamine, said good night, and walked off towards her tent. She looked back at the wise women when she entered her tent and saw Goliath sitting next to her. She found her water skin when she sat down on her bed and took a long drink from it. She couldn't help, but feel that something was very wrong.
Sarah ran with all her might through the jagged rocks. She struggled for breath as she ducked behind a large boulder. The thin air of the high mountain made her dizzy and disoriented. She could see nothing but miles of bright blue sky all around her. She looked up and saw the mountain peak above her. She examined the jagged rocks and saw that there was no path. Sarah stood up and glanced behind her.
"Hopefully those traps slowed him down," Sarah gasped as she started up the jagged rock face. Her body screamed in pain and begged her to stop this trek. Sarah ignored her body's pleas and continued on. Sarah smiled when she saw what she was looking for. A gold coin shawn brightly in the high sunlight; as if guiding her to it. She quickened her pace with a grin, "Never had a chance."
Suddenly the mountain rumbled. She looked down at her previous path with worry. Quickly she summoned her staff. With the use of hand gestures and various incantations, a purple light appeared at the end of her wand. The light glowed softly as it floated off her staff, and hovered a few feet off the ground. She smiled and continued her trek; her staff at ready. The mountain shook violently again, causing her to slide down slightly. She looked back in time to see the boulder that she was one resting at explode into thousands of small chunks. Sarah managed to raise her arm up in front of her face for protection. When she lowered her arm, she saw Marcus hovering over a hole were the boulder once resided with his arms crossed and his staff bobbing in the air beside him. He had his head low, though Sarah could see that he was looking at her with cold, stern eyes. Slowly he advanced on her.
Sarah panicked and scrambled up the sharp rocks, giving her a few cuts to her bare arms and legs. She stood up with her staff ready and faced Marcus. Marcus stopped. His staff floated from his side, and hovered to the front of his body. The head of the staff started to glow yellow. A yellow beam erupted from the staff and headed straight for Sarah.
Sara grinned, "Ha! I got you now!" She swung her staff in a wide arc. The purple ball of light grew very bright and formed a curved wall in front of her. Marcus's eyes went wide and his grave face turned into a comical panicky face. He tried desperately to get out of the way of the beam, but forgot that he was hovering, so it made it look like that he was flailing around in mid-air. Sarah chuckled at this. The beam hit Marcus: and after a magnificent explosion, he was flung over the side of the mountain. Sarah knew he would be okay, and finished her mountain climb. She smiled broadly as she grabbed the gold coin.
The mountain began to shake once again. The mountainous surroundings slowly faded away, and Sarah found herself back in the white room. She could see Marcus clapping as he walked towards her.
"Never thought you would get a hang of delay magic so quickly," said Marcus. "But then again, you have been learning at a quick rate. I'll bet with a few more years at least you could be as good as Eldor."
Sarah blushed slightly.
Marcus smiled. "I guess we should call it a night."
"I guess so," Sarah yawned as they started towards the door. When they entered the dark hallway they said their good night to each other and went off towards the rooms. Sarah had gotten used to the eerie hallway, but some days, the torch light would reflect off the golden pictures a certain way and make them seemingly come alive. She hoped that would never happen because some of the beasts that were depicted in the pictures looked pretty fearsome. When she reached her door, she tapped on it with her staff, and the slab rose up with a soft grinding noise. She entered and the slab lowered itself back down. She stretched as she sat down on her soft bed. Sarah brought her hand up to her pendant and brushed her thumb against the cherry red jewel. Her cloak started glowing in an intense yellow light. She felt the fabric shit and revert back to her normal clothing. After the process was done, she lay down on her bed and folded her hands behind her head, staring up at the black ceiling. She listened to the soft gurgling of the small stream she had conjured up in the corner of her room. She could picture the water cascading down a pile of black rocks, and into a small pool at the base of it.
She sat up and looked at the small waterfall. She thought for a second. The, with a shrug, she got up off her bed and walked over to the small pool. She made a fire ball in her hand and chucked it into the pool. Instantly the pool started to bubble softly, filling the room with a thin steam. She stripped off her green tunic and black pants, and chucked them into the far corner. Sarah left her pendant on. She hadn't taken it off since she fist got it; so by now, taking it off felt awkward to her. She tested the water with her foot, and slowly, lowered herself into the hot pool. She let out a long, hard sigh as she leaned her head back against the edge of the pool. The water only made up to her collarbone. The aching in her body slowly faded away, and was replacing with a relaxing sensation. She closed her eyes slowly, and was soon asleep.
Swords were locked in place as the two warriors snarled at each other, teeth bared. The warriors pushed forward with their swords, and jumped away from each other. They glared at each other, theirs swords bright with the mid-afternoon sun. The two warriors had swords that contrasted each other. One had a long, slender sword, while the other one was broad, and curved slightly near the middle. It had a dark line running from the beautifully ornated hand guard, which was blue and had some sort of fang protruding from the side, with many small fangs hugging the sword. The line, which was black, slithered out of the hand guard and widened slightly as it traveled up the sword blade. It was like the shadow of the sword blade on it. . The warrior with the long sword had long, un-kept hair that flowed down to the small of her back like a waterfall. She held was held back by an odd-looking head piece which was a solid blue color, and was shaped like a V. Two medium-sized fang protruded from the right side, while three seemingly smaller fangs, were on the left side; two at the bottom, on at the top. She had dark, tanned skin; darker than the rest of them. She wore golden bracers on her fore arms. Her chest was covered by a solid blue chest piece which two small fangs curving back, on each side of the piece. The piece was attached to a type of skin-tight brown material, which hugged her ripped stomach. Her waist was adorned with a belt of some sort that was made of the same obscure material as her head piece, but was circling her was with many small fangs pointed down. The belt-like thing was sporting a brown loin cloth. She wore brown greave on her legs, each sport the carved fang, .like the rest of her attire.
She snarled and lunged at the smaller swordswoman. Her target looked as if it would crumble under her opponent. She had a bit of muscle, and toned abs, but not nearly as much as her adversary. She wore a dull white bra piece which was connected to a pair thin wooden shoulder pas with red feathers at the end. She had long blonde hair that went down to mid-back. She had a pair of thin, golden bracers on her fore arm;
. She had two, small gold circles which hugged the mid part of her upper thigh; they matched the same gold circles that she wore on each arm near her shoulder. The circles on her thighs were slightly covered by a dull white loin cloth. The woman winced slightly as she swung her slender sword, barely managed to parry her opponents swing. She managed to dodge another one of her opponent's swings, but look her footing on the soft grass, and landed on the ground, stunning her slightly. She managed to roll out of the way of her opponent's downward swing. Se jumped up and thrust her sword at the other swordswoman's stomach. But she was two fast though. She blocked it with the attack with an upward swing, and tried to hit the attacker with a back fist. Taki grinned as she saw this as her opening. In the blink of an eye she side-stepped out of the way of the attack and dropped her sword in the process. She grabbed her attacks wrist, and pushed her free hand under her opponent's upper arm and with one quick motion; she managed to throw her attacker over her shoulder. The built attacker landed a short distance from Taki on her back, causing the air to rush out of her lungs. Almost immediately a sword edge was pressed lightly against her dark neck. She grinned, "well done Taki!'
Taki pulled back the blade, and helped her opponent up. "I'm learning from the best Electra."
Electra smiled a bit. "Are you sure? Some of the rookie fighters can beat me."
"Are you kidding? You had to slay the Spirit to earn that armor your wearing right now!" It was a tradition in the Amazoness tribe, that fighters could become swordswoman, and train under the previous on. But in order to do so, they have to slay the Spirit, which was conjured up from the Great Fire's ashes. So it was more or less, fighting the spirit of the Amazoness tribe. As a rookie fighter, Electra took up the challenge. Now normally, the Spirit would take a sexless humanoid form, but when Electra challenged it, the Spirit took the form of a massive giant. . The spirit was at least fifteen feet, nine feet higher than the average Amazoness. Even though Electra was using her sword, it was a long fierce battle. It brought out the true warrior in her. The battle lasted well into the night, and after a quick swing of her sword, the Spirit was defeated. Instantly the Spirit vanished. But it had left the Sacred Armor in its place. Since then, Electra always wore the armor.
They both shared a chuckled in the midday sun. The day was bright and cheery. They could see the encampment, busy with life, just on the horizon. The Mystic temple was not far away from it, and it stood solemnly and seemed devoid of any life. Electra picked up her sword and rested it on her shoulder, the back of the blade on her shoulder. Taki had picked up her sheath, put it on her back, and then sheath her slender weapon. The started off towards the encampment when suddenly a thunderous roar erupted behind them. Running towards them, was a pack of dragons.
Marcus's ears twitched. He looked up from the book her was reading, and blankly stared at the dull stone wall. He sprang up from his desk chair and threw the book on the table carelessly. He opened his door and ran out bolted down the candle-lit hallway; the candle flames flickering violently as he ran. He seen Sarah walking down the hall, and as he passed her he ordered her to find Eldor. Sarah tried to ask why but Marcus was gone. He burst through the large doors and onto the vast marble platform. The midday sun reflects of the white surface and harshly stung Marcus's eye. He ignored the pain and looked around. To his left, he saw the two Amazoness running for their lives towards the safety of the encampment. He saw another Amazoness dress in a short fur and long black skirt standing beside, what he knew to be, the wise woman. In front of them was a row of six Amazoness, their bows drawn and ready, waiting for the horde of dragons to near? The Amazoness in the coat raised her arm. Marcus ran off the platform in a flash.
"Don't fire!" he shouted as he neared.
The wise woman turned around and looked at him, "And why not?"
Marcus panted, "because they are not attacking, they are frightened and hurt."
"How would you know?" She asked, while telling the archers not to fire. The Amazoness protested, but the wise woman silence her with a raised hand.
Marcus pointed and the horde of various dragons, "See how they limp slightly? That means their wings are broken. Plus the look in their eyes tells the story."
The wise woman squinted as she studied Marcus's face. He blushed slightly, the rosy cheeks standing out from his aqua colored cheeks. The wise women closed her eyes, "I believe you. You know what to do."
Marcus grinned, "You read my soul didn't you?" He asked the wise woman for a sword of any type, and almost instantly an Amazoness came to her side. She wore a light purple tunic that reached to her knees, and was tied at the waist with a piece of rope. She had big arm muscles, in which a broad, unsheathed sword in her arms. She handed the sword to Marcus, and who took off towards the horde with the sword clutched tightly in his right hand. He mumbled as he ran, and soon his white cotton shirt and black slacks turned into his dark blue magicians' cloak. He snapped his fingers and his staff struggled to keep up behind him as he ran. He ran past the two Amazoness, who seemed to be dumbfounded by his actions. When he neared the horde, he jumped high into the air and hovered over them. He could see bigger dragons, such as the Tyrant dragon leading up the horde.
'This must be bad' he said to himself as he closed his eyes and grabbed his staff. The two objects in his hand glowed with and intense silver light. With a battle cry, he slammed the two items together; immediately he was engulfed with the same light. To the Amazoness in the distance, it was like another sun. His body jerked back into an arch as his cloak started to morph. Soon the light subsided. He hovered over the horde, seemingly dead. But his new staff bobbed patiently up and down beside him. He opened his now red eyes. His yellow hair was now a dull silver color and flowed at least to his mid torso. His skin was also a dull silver color. His cloak had under gone quite a change too. The dark blue color was still dark but more solid; it reflected the sunlight fairly well like a suit of polished armor. The red highlights were gone and now were thicker and colored like gold. The cloak extended over his hands to form glove, which looked more like menacing claws. Gold highlights marked the joints. He had these small gold wings attached to his elbow by an aqua gem which seemed too merged with the cloak. The shoulder pads were broader and extended more from his back, almost like wings. He grabbed his staff, which was like a spear, but instead of a piece of pointed metal, it had a blade attached to it. The blade had gold highlight near the top and bottom of the blade, and a gem, the same color as the ones on his elbows, seemed to hold the highlights in place. The back of the blade was highlighted by the same golden material as the rest of the highlights. The end of the blade was curved like a hunting knife, but had a hook-like point were it started to curve.
He closed his free hand and extended the index and middle finger and brought it close to his face. He uttered something and the whole horde froze. Not a single breath could be drawn from the dragons. They stood as if made of stone. Marcus uttered some thing else and they all vanished. He slowly descended to the ground, the sun light gleaming off his suit. He looked at the tree line as a cloaked figured emerged. The figure stood their and watched Marcus with through the darkness of the hood with his glowing red eyes. His whole body was wrapped in the brown cloak.
"Identify yourself!" Marcus commanded in a stern cold voice as his pointed his staff sword at the figure.
"You have made the dragons disappear. What power you have, "the figure hissed as it floated towards Marcus.
"Answer me!"
"Now I have to find more dragons for my master. He will be displeased by this delay." the figure said as it stopped. The figure looked behind Marcus, and stared at the temple. If the figure had a face through that hood, it would have smiled broadly. "I see you have the three remaining Dragon Gems"
"What gems?" Marcus asked.
The cloaked figure laughed, the cloak shaking violently. "Has he not told you? He is such a fool."
Marcus scowled as he jumped at the cloaked figure, his sword staff up in the air ready for a strike. The figure vanished as the weapon nearly hit him. He reappeared behind Marcus, who was confused at the sudden teleportation.
"Being a dark magician, you should have known what I would have done. Stupid fool," The figure hissed. Marcus's eye went wide and tried to turn around, but was sent flying from a sudden outburst of energy from the figure. He skidded across the grass, causing grass stains across his polished armor. He growled as he got up and stood in a defensive stance.
"Fool. Weapons can hurt me, "the figure said as his easily dodged and on coming attack from Marcus. He sent him flying again with a burst of energy. The figure shook violently as Marcus stood up. He could hear the figure seemingly talking to it self.
"But I want to finish him off, "he sneer, but suddenly cried out in pain, " yes I will return." It looked over at Marcus, who was dumbfounded. "We will finish this fight some other time." It said before it vanished. Marcus scratched his head, trying to figure out what had transpired. With a shrug he lifted off into the air, and hovered towards the temple.
Sarah was standing next to Eldor, her staff clutched tightly in her grasp. She was in her cloak ready for a fight. It had taken her only a few minutes to find Eldor, who was running down the halls himself dispite his age. He and Belgamine ( Sarah heard Eldor call the old woman that0 were talking amongst themselves in very low tones. she could see Marcus advance towards them in a rapid pace. In no time at all he landed in front of Sarah. He stood at least a head taller than any of the Amazoness and was likely as broads them. He gripped the sword staff which both hands and reefed on it. He was immediately engulfed in the same silver light as before. In seconds he appeared in front of Sarah, in his cotton shirt, which was tucked in his black pants.
"Phooey, I didn't get to see you transform," Sarah pouted.
"You will some day, "Marcus smiled. The smile faded away as soon as he looked at Eldor. His looked at him with his cold gaze.
"What are these Dragon gems?" he asked as Belgamine walked off. He could see her talking with the two Amazoness that ran from the horde.
Eldor sighed, "I will tell you later, for I fear that we are being watched. Meet me in the library at mid-night. You too Sarah" Marcus scowled as Eldor vanished. "He always does that!" He turns, and went off towards. Sarah was left there, trying to figure out what had happened, but decided to wait to ask questions at the meeting that night.
Sarah snapped her fingers as she casually walked into the dark library. With a Fwoosh! A fire ball appeared in her open palm, and illuminated her surroundings with a dim orange light. She could see rows upon rows of books lining the circular shelves. Sarah snapped her fingers once again and a grey circle of stone appeared beneath her feet and lifted her up in the air. The soft rushing air was cool and brushed against her skin as she glanced at the book shelves in the flickering fire light. She was brought back into reality when the stone platform stopped at a vast floor way. She hopped off the platform, which quickly sped down to the floor, and walked over to a beautifully carved, wooden desk at the center of the floor. On top of it, many piles of books were carelessly stacked, with some of them opened. She picked up one of the open books and started to read; it was about ancient civilizations. She brought her hand close to the book so she could read through the light of the fire ball. Normally she wouldn't need the fire ball, since there was a glass dome for a ceiling in the library which provided enough reading light in the day time. But since it was in the middle of the night how ever, she needed the fire, and was a bit leery about using it around old books such as these.
She had read two pages when she heard foot steps behind her. She turned around and saw Marcus advancing towards the desk. She was about to greet him, but the look in his eye took her not to. She watched him lean up against the desk, folded his arms and closed his eyes; the balls of fire floated lazily around him providing more light. Sarah shrugged and went back to her reading. It wasn't long untilling she felt an ice cool sensation around her feet. She looked down and saw a purple haze snake its way around her legs. The haze traveled around the desk and started to grow into a human. With a Poof! Eldor stood at the head of the desk with Belgamine, and Taki, who was a bit awed at the means of transport, standing behind him. With a wave of his handed, two white candles appeared on the table. With a nod, they were lit.
"So," Marcus said, getting to the point, "what are these Dragon Gems?"
Eldor sighed. "These Gems contain a prodigious amount of power. Each on has its own elemental property." As if on queue, three orbs that could fit into the palm of any hand, floated out from Eldors cloak and landed softly on the desk. The candle light seemed to hug two of the orbs in its dull orange light. Eldor pointed to the green one. "With the help of the Dark Scorpion gang, we where able to get a hold of it before it fell into the wrong hands. It one controls the element of wind. "Sarah gasped. She had seen that Gem the same day she had arrived on the island. If only the merchant knew of its history. Eldor pointed to the black one, the light made a slight purple glow around it, "This one controls the powers of darkness." He pointed to the last orb. It was a fiery red color and stood out the most. "This one controls the fury of fire."
"That's it?" Marcus said, sounding a bit disappointed, "we can do the very same thing with our magic."
"True Marcus, very true. But the gems can do more than just that," Eldor looked at Marcus sternly," But they can summon the Divide Beast know as the Five-God Dragon."
Marcus's eyes went wide. He stood up and looked at them. "Just how did we get these? I mean, if anybody knew of their power everybody would be looking for them."
"Right again Marcus. Meaningless wars have been fought for centuries for the power of these gems. For when one summons the Dragon, it must do whatever it master wishes of it. Fortunately the gem's legend has been forgotten over time. Luckily the gems found themselves in the right hands over the years. One of the previous sages of the temple must have found the gem of darkness and knew of the legend. Thankfully he hid it. As for the others...." Eldor trailed off.
Marcus looked up from the round gems." You mean they're still out there?"
"Yes. But we still have three of the five gems required for the summoning ritual. Luckily I managed to contact Belgamine on this issue." Eldor said as he stepped aside and let the ancient women step up to the desk.
"Centuries ago, the Dragon Gem of fire fell into the hands of our tribe and has been in our possession ever since. Our tribe was small then. Men from the cities heard about this and warred with us over the gem. Thankfully, with Gaia's help and the power of the Gem, we managed to hide it in the most unsuspecting place, "Belgamine glanced over at Taki, who seemed engulfed by the legend. "We had managed to hide it in the Great Fire. "Taki was jerked out of her mysticism and glared at Belgamine. She was about to say something but Belgamine lifted her hand, silencing her. Sarah could see through the dim light the anger in Taki's eyes.
"So how does one summon the dragon?" Marcus asked, putting his fingers around his chin.
"That we do not know. But from what I know is that when the dragon is summoned, its master will go insane because of the power from the dragon. Unless of course the summoner has immense magic powers and has total control over it. "
Marcus frowned. "This information sounds as if it has happened before."
"It has indeed Marcus. But that was many millennia ago. That's how though power of the gems was known. We do not know how it all came to be, but we know for sure that these items are deadly weapons and are not to be treated lightly."
"This might explain what happened today." Marcus said. Eldor looked at him. "You know how a horde of dragons was stampeding through the clearing right? Well there was this mad made seemingly of a black cloak. From what I saw of his face, he had red eyes. Before we fought, he said that he had to collect dragons. He also figured out that we had the three remaining dragon gems."
Eldor looked at him sternly. "You know what this means do you?" Marcus nodded. Sarah's ears perked up and brought her back to the conversation that she had spaced out on quite awhile ago. "We must be ready for attack."
Marcus nodded, turned away, and walked onto an awaiting circular platform. In an instant, he was whisked away to the floor. Immediately the three orbs flew back into Eldors's cloak. Sarah looked at him. "Will we really be attacked?"
Eldor shook his head. "I don't know young one. But if a horde runs away from one man, we must be ready for anything. "
Sarah bit her lip.
"But be on your guard." Eldor disappeared in a puff of purple haze along with Taki and Belgamine. Sarah was only left with her thoughts and the light of the candles...
Taki stormed out of the tent in a fit of rage. She was really mad. Why hadn't she told her that a powerful item such as the Dragon Gem of fire be hidden amongst her tribe? More so, why didn't she tell the other Amazoness? She was too much in a bad mood to ask questions, so instead she decided to take a nice long walk in the starry night. She walked past the Great Fire that lit the camp up in an orange glow and gave a look of disgust. She exited the encampment hastily, lost in her thoughts. What happens if the dragon is summoned? Would they all die? More so, what if someone found out that we had the gem? Questions raced through her head, it was giving her quite the headache. Her thinking was disrupted when she bumped into the marble platform. She cursed as she rubbed her head. This was only adding to her frustrations. Taki took a deep breath, rested her back against the stone, and slid down into a sitting position. She folded her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and looked up at the star-filled night sky. She could hear the sound of insects clicking softly all around it. The stone felt cool against her back and made her a bit aware of a soft breeze picking up. She shivered slightly as she watched the camp. The fire looked like a small torch flame in the distance. The light from it engulfed the camp in a magnificent orange glow; leaving only the back ends of the tents in the shadows. It was very peaceful and relaxing. Soon, her anger slowly drained away like sand through one fingers. Closing her eyes, Taki basked in the peacefulness of the night.
Suddenly, she heard a soft thudding noise beside her. With lightning fast reflexes, (thanks to training with Electra) se had the tip of her sword against the new comer's neck. Immediately Sarah brought her hands up. "I'm not here to hurt you!"
It took a few seconds for Taki to register what was going on. Quickly she brought her sword away from Sarah's neck and sheathed it in one fluid moment. "Sorry. Just a bit jumpy."
"That's okay," Sarah puffed, trying to catch her breath. After catching her breath, she sat down cross legged on the cool grass and relaxed slightly. She looked over at Taki, who was sitting down again and smiled. "I don't think we've been formally introduced yet. I'm Sarah."
"I'm Taki."
Sarah said hi and looked up at the stars following an awkward silence.
"So what's wrong with your friend there?" Taki said, breaking the silence.
Sarah jumped and bit and looked at Taki. She hadn't expected her to ask that question. Sarah sighed. "You mean Marcus? He was born like that."
"Oh?"
"You see, Marcus with a condition called Magi. It's a condition were you have raw magical energy flowing through you, hence the unusual color of his skin."
"Is the condition bad?"
" Well, aside from being shunned from all forms of normal society," Sarah said dryly, " you can control magic a lot better and learn it four times faster than any normal Dark Magician. But that's not all. You Magi you can use fusion magic. "
Taki looked at her awe at her knowledge of this subject.
Sarah continued. "Fusion magic is a hard magic to control. It's were you take two unlikely things and fuse them together to make something new. It can only happen with organic material or it will not work. This phenomenon does happen in the wild. However, in order for the creatures to fuse, depends on were they are and what their biorhythms are like. If their rhythms are not synchronized or if the creatures are old, they will not fuse. But when these creatures do fuse, you'll get one strong creature. It's why fusion magic is very hard to control and learn: you literally have to strip things down to their molecular levels and reassemble it one molecule at a time."
"How is it that you know of this information?"
"Well..." Sarah blushed slightly, "Ever since I was a kid, I always had a thirst. Practically everyday of my life I've spent learning something new; whether it is a simple card trick or the history of an ancient civilization."
Taki looked at her intenly. There was more to this girl that she had let one from e brief encounters she had with her. Se knew that with a few more years of training, she could become a great dark magician. She shook her head and suddenly felt that her eye lids were very heavy. She stood up, and stretched, "Well I should be off to bed now. It was nice getting to know you."
Sarah chuckled. "Good night."
Taki smiled and walked of towards the encampment.
Weeks past uneventfully; except that the new generation of tiger cubs finally came. Most of the tribe hadn't expected them to be born, with the move and all. Sarah now practically lived in the library. She wanted to know all she could about the Five-God Dragon. She scoured old history books, only to find paragraphs that only outlined and unexplained event. She hadn't seen Marcus much since that night, probably experimenting with those gems Sarah said. Eldor and Belgamine had disappeared entirely; which seemed odd because she would see Eldor walking the halls.
She and Taki had been visiting each other every night since that one night. They both were forging a good friendship. Taki had told her about her life and the history of the tribe. While Sarah told her more of her past before she made the pilgrimage to the temple. When Taki asked about her parents, Sarah just shrugged and said that they had died when she was at a young age. She had been living with relatives since. To ease the pain, Sarah's yearning to learn was amplified. Over the years, the pain of her parents' death had been healed, but it still pains her deeply that she couldn't even remember her parents face.
The temple shook violently, causing books to fall off the shelves and crash to the floor. Sarah jerked awake trying to figure out what was going on. The temple shook again and she knew what was instantly going on: the temple was being attacked. She sprung out of her chair and dashed through the door and into the long hallway. She was behind a group of male magicians, whose cloaks started to form around them. Sarah did the same and was done as soon as they erupted through the big door and onto the bright platform. She gasped at the sight that was before her.
Grisly monsters, about as tall and broad as the Amazoness tribe, were being fallen by spells from attacking magicians. But it seemed as if when one fell, about five other took its place. The Amazoness was bringing up the melee part of the battle. Arrows rained from the sky and struck down the monsters. The fighters and every other able battle worthy Amazoness were in the melee fray, save for the ones that chose bows over swords. She saw a red haired Amazoness fight like a possessed demon and cleaved down the monsters like a farm cutting his fields; the black blood on her glistened in the afternoon sun. She looked at the tree line and saw more of the monsters came flooding out. Suddenly she was shoved to the ground, her body harshly slapping against the limestone. She looked up a bit disorientated, and saw Marcus, fully clad in his magician's cloak, hit back a ball of black energy. She fooled the balls trail and saw that it hit a cloaked figure. The figure looked like the other ones, all humanoid and sexless, but had on a robe. The figure fell to the ground in a bone shattering crunch and vanished in a few seconds. Sarah saw other similar figure up in the air, each launching balls of energy at the now damaged temple.
Marcus looked down at Sarah, a stern expression on his face, "You take care of the magician in the air, while I help the Amazoness." Before she could protest, Marcus bounded towards the battle on the ground. He managed to get his way over to the red haired Amazoness. She talked to her briefly, ad touched her sword with is staff. Instantly lightning swirled around it. Sarah swore she could see a grin on the Amazoness face. She chuckled slightly, but was brought back to reality when a ball of energy exploded near her feet, making a rough indent in the limestone and casting fly chunks every where.
Sarah glared at the magician angrily, who was preparing another energy ball. She twirled her staff in front of, causing energy to evaporate off of it. A ball of dark energy formed at the swirled tip of the staff. Sarah swung her staff at the magician causing the ball to fly off her staff and hit the magician dead on. The magician cried out in pain as it fell to the ground. She hoped that the magicians knew the same spells as her, because it was going to be a long battle.
Taki's legs shook violently as she ran towards the stand-still. She was very afraid of what might happen. Taki had virtually no battle experience, and the only kind she got was with Electra, and those were in controlled state. She knew that anything could happen. Uttering a prayer to Gaia, she leapt into the air with a battle cry, her sword high above her head. She swung down as she hit the ground, and cleaved one creature right down the middle; black blood plashing all over her. In an instant she was cleaving down every black figure she could see. She would have to thank one of the blacksmiths for sharpening her sword earlier that day. She heard growling behind her, causing her spirits to soars to highs she never knew. The tigers had lept into the fray and started attacking savagely. In her minds eye, Taki could see them tearing the intruders apart with the massive claws and teeth. With these reinforcments, the black monsters seemed to attack more intensely. She cleaved down one monster and saw an arrow flying straight for her head. She dodged and looked behind her, the arrow had struck a creature between its eyes (if there were any) who was ready to attack her. She looked forward and saw Meryl winked at her with a sly grin on her face as she readied an arrow and fired. Taki chuckled as she brought down another monster.
Everything seemed to sharpen when an explosion erupted from the temple. She looked over and saw magicians and chunks of limestone fly trhough the air. She gasped when she saw Sarah in the fray. A black cloaked figure flew through the smoke laughing as three orbs hovered around it. Taki cursed as she blocked an attack from one of the monsters and cleaved it down. She saw the figure hover over the battle and yell, "To me my kinsman!" Instantly the monsters vanished in a wisp of black smoke. It grew silently instantly, leaving and eerie feeling in the air. She dropped her sword on the blood soaked ground in sadness. She saw the bodies of magicians and Amazoness alike lying lifelessly in pools of their blood. She saw a battered Marcus help Sarah slowly to her feet, who wasn't looking any better than him. She saw Electra using her sword to help her up off the ground. Instantly she vomited on the ground, not being used to battle. Black blood coated her body like fine oil. She felt dizzy and stumbled across the earth. Soon she could see the ground rushing up towards her...
Sarah stared at the fire with a blank expression on her face. The fire felt comforting and soothing. All around her magicians and Amazoness were treating each others wounds. The bandaged sat in little groups and talked amongst themselves. Sarah winced in pain as she looked up at the bright stars. When the explosion tore through the temple, Sarah was flown through the air and crashed into the ground very hard. She had broken a few ribs upon impact. She jerked as she felt a heavy hand rest on her shoulder. She turned around and saw the red-haired Amazoness wearing a cold expression, probably due to the fact that her arm was in a sling. "She's up."
Sarah nodded and gingerly got up off the stump that she was sitting on. She trudged on towards tent in pain. When she entered, she saw Eldor and Belgamine contemplating their next move on this situation. Sarah was about to bombarded them with questions on why they weren't in the fight, but she held back when she saw that Eldor had his left arm in a sling, and Belgamine had her left eye covered by bandages. They must have been inside the sanctum of the temple fighting that person, Sarah said to her self as she sat on a stool near the bed. She looked over and saw Taki, her torso bandaged, looking down at the corner of the blanket as she fidgeted with it. Sarah was about to say something but Eldor spoke up. "As you are aware of, the gems have been stolen."
"So how do we get them back?" Taki asked, looking up from the corner of the blanket.
"I placed a spell on them so that we could track the location of them at any given moment." Eldor answered as he paced around the brightly lit tent. "The distance is two great to travel on foot, but I can teleport you their."
Sarah glared at Eldor with all the anger she could muster. " You can US to follow the gems, and their being a good chance that the Divine Being might be summoned BEFORE we arrive?!"
Eldor cast a downward glance. "Yes. But we feel that you are strong enough to take this task on."
"What do you mean?"
"Your magical abilities have grown at such a prodigious rate, that you have surpassed me in magical talent. Though, you lack the spells that I know."
Sarah sat there in awe. She knew that she was strong but this. This was as if some one told her that she had been given a whole mountain of gold. Even though she lacked the complicated and strong spells that Eldor knew. Eldor continued. "Though we will be sending Marcus to help you both out. This is a heavy burden I have put on your shoulders." Eldor exited the tent, followed by Belgamine. Sarah and Taki both sat in a thick silence. Were they really this strong? They asked themselves. The silence was broken when Marcus entered the ten with two small cups. Sarah looked up and saw that Marcus had a few cuts on his face and had a bit of dried black blood on his face. 'Here drink this. Belgamine said it would heal you."
They both took they cups. Sarah drank it down in a flash and immediately felt better, though it had a very bitter after taste. She looked over at Taki, who was staring down at the contents of the cup. "What's wrong?"
"This is too big of a task for us." Taki sniffed as she drunk the contents of the cup.
"Hey listen, " Sarah said as she put a reassuring had on Taki's shoulder." How about when this is over, we take a long trip some where. You know take a long break from everything and relax. "
"I can't. I'm the paladin of my tribe, "Taki sniffed once again.
"Don't give me that. I'm sure Belgamine will understand that you need long break from it." Sarah smiled as Taki looked up.
"You think she will?" Taki asked.
"Yup."
Taki smiled at Sarah's bravery and confidence. "I guess we should get ready."
Sarah nodded, and sat up. She realized that the pain was gone now and knew that her ribs were healed. She wondered what was in that drink as she exited the tent. She saw Marcus standing by the fire, fully cloak. He must have slipped out when we were talking, Sarah said to herself. She walked to his side and stared into the fire for a few minutes.
"Ready?" She asked as she changed into her cloak.
"Yup," Marcus said as they turned around and walked to the edge of encampment. The wounded magician and Amazoness were sleeping soundly with there head resting on bunched up articles of clothing. Sarah chuckled a bit when she saw a tiger and a magician curled up beside each other, sleeping soundly. A serious tone hung in the air as they met up with Belgamine and Eldor. Taki was already standing in front of them. Her eyes were closed and her hands rest on the hilt of her sword, which was stuck in the ground. Sarah knew that she was praying for their protection and hoped that the prayer would be answered. Taki opened her eyes and nodded at Eldor. He nodded back and started to utter something as he waved his staff in the air. Thick purple smoke belched from the staff and engulfed the group of frightened warriors. Sarah suddenly became disoriented and dizzy as the surroundings around her started to shift and swirl.
"May Gaia be with you." was all she heard as her vision went black.
"Are the preparations ready?" A figure asked from deep within the shadows of the chasm.
"Yes master. Everything is all set, "the cloaked figure said as he laid a round blue gem next to the other gems.
"You have done well Arka."
"Thank you master, you are to kind." Arka could have smiled if he could.
A black mist emerged from the shadows and slowly took form. He had long silver hair and had brown skin. He wore a magicians cloak similar to Marcus's but was black instead of blue, and had bright red highlights. He snapped his fingers and a staff, the same color as his cloak, appeared. "Soon, the power will be mine.".....
The group crouched near the entrance of the cave. They could see Arka standing next to the magician. All five of the gems were laid out in a straight line, and sat on a flat stone in front of a huge white lake.
"What's that?" Taki whispered as she noticed the white lake that seemed to extend into a endless black void.
"That is raw magical energy," Marcus answered back in a low whispers, ' It's the reason why this chasm has an abnormal color to it."
Taki's questions on why the cave was a dark purple color and sparkled were answered She heard the magician in the red cloak start to utter something. Instantly, Marcus sprang from their hiding place and launched a fire ball at the magician. It hit full force and sent him sprawling across the rocky ground. He glared at Marcus. "You"
"Shall I take care of them master?" Arka asked as he saw Sarah and Taki jump behind Marcus.
"You can have the women, but Marcus is mine," the Magician growled as he got up and pointed his staff at Marcus.
"Haven't seen you for a long time Aion. How have you been?" Marcus smirked. Sarah looked at Marcus with a frown and wondered what the relationship was between the two magicians. Marcus sprang forwards as his staff started to glow with magical energy. Aion did the same and the two staffs collided with each other sending out bolts of magical energy into the air.
"getting stronger than you brother," Aion snarled as pushed Marcus away with his staff. He uttered something and a black ball fire from his staff. Marcus blocked it and attacked with a fireball. Aion dodged it and flew towards of the magical lake. Marcus growled and followed at the same break neck pace.
Sarah watched the battle between the two magicians intently. Her audience was interrupted when Arka tackled her to the ground.
"I'm going to have fun with you," Arka seemed to grin. Sarah shuddered in disgust as she wondered what went through his mind. Sarah saw a streak of white light fly through the air and strike Arka down.
"Thanks Taki, " Sarah said as she stood up, her staff pointed at Arka who was getting up off the ground.
"No problem," Taki said as she got into a battle stance.
"You are powerful indeed," Arka laughed as he got up. He seemed to be made entirely out of a black cloak. "But I know how to deal with you two." Arka glowed with a black light. Sarah feared what of what was about to come. Arka cried out in pain as he grew taller and broader. The light subsided and Sarah gasped. Standing a mere five feet from her, was an exact copy of her. Or it would have been. Her copy had light brown skin and long silver hair like Sarah's. Her cloak was red and was highlighted the same was except the lines were a deep black color. Instead of the cherry red gems that adorned various parts of her body, her clones were a deep blue color. Instead of a pink skirt, she had a faded black one Instead of the sky blue staff with the round cinnamon bun-like swirl at the top; her clone had a black staff with the same swirl but was in a square fashion. It was like looking into a mirror for Sarah. More like an evil mirror. She could see the seductiveness in her cones eyes instead of the innocence in hers.
"I told you I would have fun with you!" Arka chuckled. Instead of Arka's previous voce, she heard a smooth seductive voice.
"Wh...What are you?" Sarah stuttered.
" I'm what you magicians would call a shifter. I can take anyform I touch," Arka grinned evilly.
Sarah suddenly felt violated and dirty. She gritted her teeth and glared at her. A ball of black energy form at the top of her staff, and with a mighty swing she flung the ball at Arka laughed and dodged it easily and countered with her own. The ball hit Sarah squarely in the stomach and sent her flying into the jagged rock wall. She growled as she got up. Taki watched in awe as Sarah launched another energy attack. Instead of dodging and countering with her own, Arka slammed the head of her staff to the ground causing two purple cylinders of energy to form on each side of her. The energy ball flew into one of the cylinders and came out shooting out of the other one straight for Sarah. She yelped and barely managed to jump out of the way. Sarah got up and glared at her opponent. Arka laughed, "Fool."
"She's stronger than me so watch out..." Sarah said to Taki in a barely audible whisper. Taki suddenly felt very nervous.
Arka sneered as she put her hands on her hips. " Ha! Is that all you got?" Arka laughed and raised her staff over her head and twirled it. Lightning was forming at the tip of her staff. "I thought this fight would last longer. A pity." She ripped her electrically charged staff from the air and centers it with her torso. The charge flew from the tip of her staff in a wide beam and went straight for the two women. The women jumped to the side as the bolt hit their previous location. Taki ran straight for Arka her sword at her side ready to strike. Arka laughed. "You two are more desperate than I thought!" She charged up her staff once more and was about to bring it town on Taki's incoming skull. But Taki had other plans. She dropped to the ground and slid between Arka's spread legs, making her miss Taki. Before Arka had anytime to react, she was hit with huge fire ball, sending her flying in the air. Taki crouch and held her sword up high above her. She closed her eyes tightly and uttered a quick prayer as she felt something slide onto her awaiting blade. she could feel the warm blood dripping onto her golden hair. She could feel it running down her tanned arms. she lowered the sword to the ground and got up on shaking legs. She could see the agony of silent scream on Akra's face like a stone statue. Her eyes were wide from the sudden shock. Black blood began to ooze slowly from the wound and started a pool around her upon the dark purple rocks. Taki noticed that her sword had enter the back of her rib cage and exited through her chest cavity; piercing her heart in the process. Lucky strike I guess.
Sarah slowly walked up beside her and stood in silence as she looked at the corpse of her evil clone. A chill went down her as she saw that the likeness was astounding.
"Now for the gems," Taki said as she turned to her left and walked towards the coloured gems. Sarah followed her. Taki tried to reach out and grab one but was shot back with a strong magical force. She hit the opposite wall and gasped as the air was forced out of her lungs. Sarah ran to her side as she slid to the ground.
"You okay?" Sarah asked as she put a hand on her friends shoulder.
"Yeah...I'm...fine," Taki said, gasping for air," But...the gems...seem...to be...protected...by something."
"Sarah looked over at the gems and saw that they were glowing. The gems slowly rose into the air and formed a circle. The gems spun around in a circle and finally flung themselves into the pulsing lake. After a few seconds the whole chasm began to shake violently causing rocks to fall from the ceiling and fall into the lake.
"Let's get out of here!" Sarah said as she helped her friend up. Taki ran over to Akra's corpse. She turned the body on its stomach and yanked out her sword. She quickly wiped the blade off with her thumb and fore finger and bounded off towards Sarah, who was waiting for her at the entrance. The pair exited the cave just as the entrance collapsed...
The two magicians flew at high speeds over the lake of energy. They flew close to the surface, that if any slip up, they would plunge into its depths. Every time they got near, their staffs clashed, canceling out the others spell. It looked to Marcus that it would be a mille fight than anything else.
"Why did you do it brother?" Marcus asked as he deflected a swing from Aion.
"Because I wanted power!" Aion said as he blocked a jab from Marcus's staff. The two twirled in the air as they exchanged and blocks jabs and swings.
"That is why Eldor cast you out of the temple!" Marcus said as he knocked Aion away, giving him room to fly away from the energy.
They were both born as Magi. Shunned from society, and turning to books and lore, Marcus and Aion found out about the temple. Both in their early teens, they set out to find the temple. When they found it, they were happy and knew that their troubles went away. But as time passed, Marcus noticed a change in Aion. He got really aggressive outside and inside of the training matches. It was that Eldor realized that Aion was power hungry and only sought to fulfill his own greedy needs. Eldor then banished him from the temple forever. Before Aion disappeared into the forest, Aion turned back and vowed that he would be back one day with more power than they could imagine and seek revenge. It looked as if Aion has found that power Marcus said to himself, mentally reliving that day. He was brought out of his memories when be barely managed to block an incoming attack from Aion.
Suddenly the energy lake began to rip violently. He could see the dim purple roof through the glow of the lake of energy, and saw it cracking. Aion laughed. "The ritual is done!" He took off towards the back of the chasm, Marcus tried to follow but his pursuit was cut off when a column of energy shot up from the lake and blocked his back. Uttering an incantation, Marcus thrust his staff in the air and a green beam off light shot from it a cut a perfectly smooth hole above him. He kicked himself from his hovering point and bolted through the hole knowing full well what was about to happen...
Sarah and Taki jumped clear from the entrance of the cave as it collapsed behind them. They slid across the purple rocks slightly when they landed. The looked back with a sense of relief on their face knowing full well what was going to happen. They picked themselves off the ground and dusted themselves off. They could see eerie moonlit shadows all around them, courtesy of the full moon that shone brightly in the cloudless sky. They looked up in time to see Marcus erupt from the mountain. They waved at him, signifying that they were okay. He waved back with a smile. They air around tem was very still. Not even the lowliest incest chirped its nightly orchestra. All around them it was just a barren wasteland for miles made up of purple rock. Suddenly the ground shook violently again, knocking the girls off the feet. They heard a loud roar and their hearts leapt to their throats. The cave suddenly exploded, sending thousands of pieces of purple rock everywhere. The Sarah barely managed to cast a force field around them as huge chucks of rock landed beside them. She searched the moonlit sky for Marcus but saw no sign of him. She was really worried now, because she knew that Marcus was carried of by a big chunk of rock. Sarah noticed that it suddenly got very dark around them. They both looked u and could have died from the shock of what they saw.
The massive dragon loomed over them like a vulture; it's five head bobbing up and down as if eyeing its meal. The dragon's body was massive and was a dull yellow colour and was dotted by faded brown spots. It had a huge wing span, easily the size of five roofs. Sarah noticed the massive muscles in its thick arms and legs, and also noticed its sharp gleaming claws. Its white plated stomach seemed to glow on the moon light. Sarah noticed that each head had a distinct and unique trait to it. The head of fire seemed to be completely made of fire, expect that it had a long neck like the rest and had a head shaped like a mean looking dragon. the head of earth was had the same coloured skin as it's body, but had dull horns jutting out off the top of it's head. The head of wind had to horns the jutted away from its eyes in a V shape and was a magnificent silver colour. Behing the earth and wind head was the head of darkness. The head of darkness was complete black. Red glowing eye seemed to conflict with the rest of it's color. Finally, the head of water rested between the fire and earth head. On its sides, it had two blue fins and was completely covered by an ocean blue color. All five head had long necks like a snake. A laugh brought both Sarah and Taki back to their senses.
"This is the power that I have achieved!" Aion said as he hovered over the great dragon. "To bad Marcus was thrown off by a stray boulder. You two will be a fine morsel for my dragon!"
The girls shuddered in fear as they got up and face the dragon; their weapons held up ready for attack. Aion laugh. "Pathetic I'll have the pleaure of crushing you!" Aion croosed his arms and started to spin in the air. Slowly he descended onto the dragon. But he didn't stop. He continued to drill into the dragon, ignoring the crying please from the dragon. Slowly, the yellow body was replaced by black and red stripes. They both knew that the dragon was possessed buy Aion.
"I can feel every spec of dust in the air!" The head of darkness roared in the air. Taki knew that they were both in big trouble. "So any ideas?" Taki asked with a nervous smile, trying to lighten the mood.
"Not a single one," Sarah said as she made a ball of dark energy with her staff," The best we can do is hit I hard and hit it fast!" she flung the ball of energy at the earth head. It hit dead on and it howled in pain.
"You shall pay for that!" The head said .The body began to stomp its feet on the ground, causing it to shake. The girls fought to keep their balance. When they did, they saw a massive yellow tail swinging right for them. They didn't even have enough time to blink when the tail hit them. The girls flew through the air and skidded across the rock in a heap of pain. The laid there moaning when their painful journey was over. Aion laugh, using one of the dragons heads. He stomped his massive feet again. This time the fire head thrust forth and fired a jet of fire towards the battered women. Before the stream of fire hit, savagely purple wall came up over them and deflected the attack back towards Aion. Aion grunted in pain as the head of earth fell limp.
"Who..." Sarah whispered painfully.
"Me," Marcus said as he knelt down beside Sarah. "You took a major blow."
Sarah tried to chuckled, but winced instead. She then finally realized that Marcus's cloak looked different. He had transformed into his other form.
"I se you transformed..." Sarah faintly said before she passed out due to pain. Marcus quickly went over to Taki who was unconscious as well. Marcus slammed the end of his sword staff on the ground, casting a force shield around the two girls. He turned to Aion, but almost jumped out of his skin when he saw the head of darkness hovering right beside him its black teeth gleaming evilly in the moonlight. Instinctively, he stabbed out one of its eyes with his blade. Aion reeled back and grabbed the scaly face.
"You will pay for that!" Aion screamed as he stomped around.
"I see that you used your fusion magic to fuse with the dragon!" Marcus said with a hint of excitement in his voice. "But that was wrong move!" He floated up into the air and curled up into a tight ball. He jerked out off the position and started to glow blue. The dragon glowed the same color as Marcus.
"Fool what you are doing!" Aion said as he unleashed a jet of water from the water head's mouth. It missed entirely.
"I'm stealing some of your power since you are a dragon, since my new abilities allow me to do so," Marcus smirked as the glowing subsided. Aion felt weaker know, yet he felt confident enough to charge Marcus, its large clawed feet cracking the ground. With one mighty swing, a claw came rushing towards Marcus. He easily dodges and attack with a slash up Aion's new arm. Aion screamed and tried to bat him with his tail, but missed again. Marcus flew up to the base of the wind heads neck, and with one quick swipe of his sword staff, he severed the neck from the body. With a crash, the head fell to the ground and lay there lifelessly. Oddly enough Aion felt no pain, but kept up his intense melee onslaught. With every attack, Aion either got a deep gash on his arms, or got a head cut off. Now he had only two heads left: the fire head and the darkness head, though it only had one god eye left. The other three lay lifelessly on the ground. Marcus was a bit banged up to, though only from a few sucker hits and covered in black blood.
The two squared off, Marcus glared at his now dragon for a brother as he bobbed up and down in the air clutching his sword staff.
" It's seems that you are winning brother," The darkness head grinned," but I believe that I have the upper hand!"
"What do you mean?" His question was answered when head was hit by a beam of intense orange light. He was knocked to the ground with a bone shattering force. He groaned as he stopped sliding across the gravel. He body was slowly engulfed by silver light and hit cloak was gone. He know laid their in his white cotton shirt and black pants. He looked as if he was going to a dinner party if you ignored the black blood that soaked his blonde hair.
Aion laughed. "There's one spell that you never learnt: Raigeki!" The two remaining heads moved close to each other; their mouths glowing like candles. The heads jerked back as the beam was fired at Marcus's broken body. Suddenly a purple cylinder of energy formed in front of Marcus and caught the blast head on. The cylinder flipped over and launched the attack back at Aion. Aion looked to his right with his two heads. "You!" he saw Sarah smile as she fell lifelessly back to the ground and back into the peaceful unconsciousness. Aion had no time to react when the beam hit him. The head roared out in pain as light began to crack all over his body. Suddenly, the light burst from his body instantly vaporizing it. It any one had been partially conscious, they would have even the most spectacular light show in their lives. But unfortunately, they weren't....
Taki rolled over on her soft sapling wrapped bed. Frown as se felt the bed with her hand. Her eyes sot open and jerked up into a sitting position, but quickly regretted that decision when a wave of pain engulfed her. She slowly lay back down on the bed.
"We did it," She smiled. Taki heard the tent flap open and saw Electra walk in and sit at the foot of her bed.
'I guess you made it huh?"
"Yup. Though we broke a few bones in the process," Taki said as she felt her ribs through the bandages that wrapped her torso.
"Meh," Electra said, "bones are easy to heal."
It was then Taki noticed that Electra wasn't wearing a sling. Taki asked why.
"You've been out for a week or two and I do heal pretty fast..." Electra said as she rubbed the back of her head.
"A few weeks!" Taki exclaimed as she sat up, only to be greeted by more pain. She lay back down.
"Yup. That blow you took was a hard one."
"I guess Marcus told you all what had gone on."
"He did when he woke up a few days later. He's doing fine now, but was an utter mess when he was brought in by the archer team that followed you."
Taki was about to ask a few more questions, like how Sarah was, but soon fell into a deep sleep. Even though the slept for weeks, she was still very tired. She dreamt tat she was off on a sunny beach on a far away land with Sarah lying beside her...
Days past. After some recovering from the injuries a bit better, Sarah, Marcus, and Taki were treated to an awards ceremony Taki found out that Sarah had suffered a few broken bones in her arms and torso, but would be fine after a few weeks. Marcus had a few bruises on his arms and face due to the battle with Aion in his both forms. A feast was held in their great bravery and honor. The festivities lasted for days, even though nobody besides the magicians and the Amazoness knew of the incident. Marcus told Sarah and Taki the story on how he and Aion were brothers. I made a lot more sense to them than just figuring it out themselves after a few weeks of major healing; Sarah took Taki on a vacation on a far away land. Taki was hesitant to ask Belgamine about it, but she said she deserved it.