I am so very sorry that it took me so long to update! School been a real pain in the butt, as well as that Writer's Block has escaped. Although I don't know how; I had him tied to a chair with metal chains. o.O

Ha! He's as weird as you!'

...Shut up, Spitfire. Crescentstar?

Disclaimer: It would be pretty stupid if Dragon Queen16 owned the characters in Yu-gi-oh and wrote a fanfiction about it, dontcha think? Not to mention pointless. And there's also...

Umm, while she rambles on, I'm gonna get to the reviews, k?

Angel-of-the-Apocalypse-- Unfortunately, writer's block escaped. -.- However, my friend spotted the vile being and currently has him trapped in a bowling ball bag. o.O Yes, you heard me right, a bowling ball bag. I'm glad to hear you like the story so far! : D

Cheetah Goddess--Keep him in the bowling ball bag! (Make sure he doesn't chew through it. If he can chew through chains, who knows what he can do. o.O) Oh and slap Silver for me and give her this message: ESCAFLOWNE IS NOT CRAP, YOU BITTER OLD SPIRIT! DEAL WITH IT!
Thank ya! -grins evilly-

roses-in-bloom--Bleh. School. -shudders- But I'm glad to see you like my story! : D

JellyBob 15-- Glad you think so! : D

Fuschicho Hime--Double wedding? -mysterious voice- Maybe...

Sylvia Viridian--You didn't miss anything. I just do that a lot and throw in a piece of information that gives a hint to the plot. It's great fun. : )

norestar-angel--Thank you! : ) Oh, I went to your website. It's really cool! Did you get my e-mail?

Tinyflyer 02--Thank you! : D

Now to chapter 15--The Creature Unyielding

.....

The black thing sizzled and hissed in an unnatural fashion, swaying back and forth in anticipation. It had them cornered--she, Seto, and Ethereshade. She tried desperately to kill it, as did the other two, but nothing worked. The creature just kept reforming itself, each time growing larger. She began to tire; darkness began to overtake her vision. The thing struck, inching towards Ethereshade and slowly devouring the dragon alive. The dragon's screams pierced the still, gray world as he tried desperately to escape. But all was in vain. In moments, Ethereshade was no more. Serenity watched in horror as the thing devoured Seto as well. She tried desperately to move, to fight, but her limbs seemed to be made of lead. It slid menacingly close, its foul, putrid smell invading her senses and making her nauseous. Her vision began fading, darkness overwhelming her. The thing drew closer and closer, its horrible flesh sizzling with malevolence. With a final screech, it attacked--

Serenity sat up with a start, cold sweat beading on her face. Her heart was hammering in her chest with such force she thought it would burst out at any second. With a shaky hand, she reached up and wiped off the perspiration from her forehead. She jumped as she heard a noise behind her.

Serenity, are you all right? Seto's voice said softly.

Serenity nodded slowly, Yeah...Yeah. I-it was just a nightmare.

Seto gave her a slightly suspicious look and said, Must have been one hell of a nightmare.

she said while smiling weakly, it was. Go back to sleep.

Seto just nodded and gave a slight, reassuring smile back. Within minutes, he was asleep again.

Serenity sighed and tried desperately to follow his example. No matter what she did, however, the image of the thing kept coming back. Sleep continued to elude her. With a resigned sigh, she wrapped her arms around her knees and stood watch. That nightmare had been absolutely terrifying. She was just glad that it had only been a nightmare.

Or so she thought.

.....

The thing screeched in triumph as it sighted the rock outcrop its masters had described. That was where its prey was! With a low hiss of satisfaction, it began oozing towards the place at an accelerated pace. It shrieked in pleasure to the surrounding area. Finally, after being kept so long in captivity, it would feast again!

.....

Serenity stiffened as she heard the series of shrieks emitted from the gray world just outside the cave. The sounds soundly oddly familiar... As another screech sounded, she realized when and where she had heard those sounds before. The thing from her nightmare had sounded exactly the same. Maybe...maybe it wasn't a nightmare. Maybe it was a premonition or something of that sort. Her face paled as the sound got closer. That's it. She was waking Seto and Ethereshade up now. It was better to be safe than sorry. She walked over to Seto and kneeled down next to him. She lightly shook him and said, Seto! Seto, wake up!

The mage groggily sat up, yawning. What's the matter, Ren? One look at her frightened face immediately sobered him. He stood up abruptly and helped her to her feet. What's going on?

She shook her head, There's no time to explain. All you need to know is that some indestructible...thing is coming towards us and we need to get out now.

Seto nodded and walked over to Ethereshade. Ethereshade, wake up. When the dragon made no response, Seto sighed in exasperation and kicked him in the side, yelling, Get up, you great, lazy lump!

The dragon rose up slowly and released a massive yawn. You could've done that without the kicking, you know.

No, not really. We need to get out of here. As in now.

Ethereshade looked puzzled for a moment but asked no questions. He simply followed the other two out of the cave. Or, rather, both Seto and Ethereshade followed Serenity out of the cave.

Once outside, Serenity turned to Seto. Seto, can you turn into your dragon form now? We need to get away from here.

Still without question, Seto nodded and closed his eyes. There was a blinding flash of white light, and a dragon of pure white with dark blue eyes stood where Seto previously had. Now what? Seto asked.

Is it possible for me to ride on your back without hurting you? Serenity asked somewhat shyly.

Seto nodded. Of course. The spot right in front of my wings should do fine. He knelt down so she could climb up easier.

Once she was settled, Serenity motioned for him and Ethereshade to fly up. Thanks. Now, we should head for the altar you were talking about earlier.

Seto slightly altered his course and began beating his wings steadily; Ethereshade did the same. Okay, we're on course. Now will you tell us the reason for this?

Serenity nodded, It's about that nightmare I had. I think that it might have been a premonition or something. In my nightmare, there was the horrible, screeching, black thing. It had all three of us cornered. No matter what we did, we couldn't kill it. It...it killed you and Ethereshade and was about to kill me as well when I woke up. I dismissed it as nothing but a nightmare at first. I stood watch because I couldn't sleep, and I heard the same screeching I had in the nightmare. I know it seems silly, but I didn't want to risk it. Besides, we needed to head out soon anyway.

Ethereshade nodded slowly, Well, at least I know what's going on now. And you're right. We needed to head out soon anyway...Ah! There's the Barrier! The Altar's close!

Up ahead was a wall that rose up higher even than the Spire. It was made with a shining silver substance that glowed dimly in the gray light of the Restless Realms. The walls looked slightly flimsy, but something about it made it seem impregnable. The only break in the silver wall was a large gate of the same substance. The were strange runes and carvings around the huge, arching doorway and the doors themselves. Surprisingly, however, there seemed to be no lock or anything of the kind on the gate.

Serenity suddenly felt a cold chill running down her spine. Cold sweat began beading on her forehead as she heard the familiar, nightmarish hissing noise made by the black creature. She risked a look back and saw in the distance a strange black and mutated bird, wings flapping in an ungainly manner. She caught Seto's attention and gestured towards the thing. His eyes widened and he picked up speed, urging Ethershade to do the same.

But the thing kept gaining on them, its wretched form drawing nearer to them all the time. With a blood curdling screech, it lunged at Ethereshade and grabbed onto his tail with a massive, bubbling talon. Ethereshade screamed as the thing's acid-like talon burned his scales. Angered by the pain, Ethershade shot white-hot flame at the thing, singing his own tail in the process. The flame licked at the thing's form, the fire slowly consuming it. But then, to their shock, it absorbed the fire and began reforming its burnt body. It attacked Ethereshade again, this time latching onto his wings. The dragon howled in pain as the thing's acidic flesh burnt through the delicate membrane of his wings. The dragon began falling from the sky as his wings became useless flaps of bleeding flesh.

Seto called back to Serenity, Hold on! With that, he plunged downwards into a dive. Once he caught up with Ethereshade's falling form, he flew under him to brake the black dragon's deadly descent. It was good the rescue was made when it was, for it was only seconds later before the ground came inevitably to meet them.

The hard impact winded both Seto and Ethereshade as well as Serenity, who had fallen off of Seto during the crash. Ethereshade, it seemed, had blacked out from the pain and the fall. Both Serenity and Seto barely had the strength to sit up. The thing had suffered the most damage, but was slowly reforming itself while slithering over to them. It had returned to its normal, shapeless state.

Seto stood up shakily and tried desperately to kill the thing with magic. The thing, however, simply absorbed the barrage of blue fire and grew larger. The fire only seemed to annoy it. After a few rounds of this, the thing reflected the fire back towards Seto instead of absorbing it. The fire hit Seto square on the chest, throwing him back against the Barrier wall. He tried to stand up again, but failed. His battered body would take no more, Dragonblood or not. He was only able to sit there and watch as the invincible thing drew closer.

Serenity was in much the same state as Seto. Her body felt weak, too weak to even raise a finger. But something inside her ignited when she saw the thing hissing and bubbling toward them triumphantly. She felt a strong, pulsing anger grow inside of her. She felt adrenaline rush through her body. Serenity stood up abruptly, eyes blazing with fury. How dare this...this...thing do this to the ones she cared about! How dare it even think about it!' She held out her hands before her and yelled out in a strong, forceful voice, EVERSIO LUX LUCIS!

An intense stream of blinding light shot from Serenity's hands and towards the thing. The thing screamed as the light pierced through its morphing black body. With a despairing shriek, it turned and began blundering away.

With a weak, satisfied smile, Serenity lowered her hands and promptly lost consciousness. Seto, who had watched the whole scene with wide eyes, hurriedly crawled over to her and checked her pulse, his face ashen with worry. He sighed in relief when he felt a weak, yet steady, beat. With an anxious glance at Ethereshade, Seto picked Serenity up and carried her over to the wounded dragon's side. He quickly assessed the situation. Serenity and Ethereshade were out cold, he was exhausted and slightly wounded, Ethereshade was in terrible shape, and all three of them had to make it through the Barrier before that thing came back.

With a frustrated groan, Seto set his head in his hands and whispered a muffled, With as much strength as he could muster, Seto stood up and transformed into a dragon. He set Serenity on his back and then picked up Ethereshade carefully. His wings flapped slowly and carefully as the white dragon flew towards the Gate. It was not too far a fly, and for that Seto was grateful. He felt at any moment that he might collapse. Finally, however, his destination was reached. He swung the Gate open with an expert flick of his tail and laid both Serenity and Ethereshade gently inside. He flew in and closed the Gate once more. Once this task had been completed, he happily collapsed into sleep, too exhausted to do much else.

.....

Ethereshade gained consciousness not much longer after the creature's attack. He found himself miraculously inside the Barrier, an unconscious Serenity curled up near by. Seto was sprawled out a few feet farther than that, his body heaving with exhaustion even in sleep. Ethereshade felt a pang of guilt as he looked at his two friends. It was obvious that they had both managed to defeat the thing and get all three of them inside the Barrier. He had done nothing but get himself beaten up by a blob. An indestructable blob, yes; but a blob nonetheless.

The black dragon slowly experimented standing up, only to be horribly disappointed. He crashed down to the ground before rising even two inches. He growled irritatingly in his throat. This was pathetic! With that encouraging thought in his mind, he once again began to stand up. This time he actually managed six inches before collapsing. The dragon sighed and laid his head down dejectedly.

Ethereshade, what's wrong? Serenity asked, slowly standing up.

Can't move. Too weak, the dragon said sullenly.

It's no wonder. That thing managed to hurt you several times. Who knows what kind of junk is floating around in your veins from it, came the optimistic reply from an exhausted, awakening Seto.

Hold still, commanded Serenity as she stepped towards Ethereshade. She placed her hands on the black dragon's head and closed her eyes in concentration. A healing light spread through her fingertips and began coursing through the dragon.. Within seconds, any trace of scratch or blood had vanished.

Ethereshade looked awed, Am I healed? Just like that?

Well, only temporarily, Serenity admitted. I'll need some additional supplies to permanently heal you.

All the more reason to head for the Altar, Seto said pointedly in Ethereshade's direction.

The dragon snorted, Well, then, what are you waiting for? He then promptly leapt into the air and flapped his enormous wings.

Seto followed suit, pausing to pick up Serenity. The two dragons flew quickly north towards the Altar of Broken Dreams. Serenity suddenly said, Where are we going after we get back?

Yami's place, the white dragon said immediately. I keep most of my spellbooks there, including the one I need to counteract the spell cast on you.

Serenity nodded and held on tighter as she felt his muscles tense for a dive. Her prediction proved correct as the two dragons slowly began descending towards a small clearing in the dark forest below them. They landed at the edge of the clearing, leaving space between them and the Altar in the middle. Serenity dismounted from Seto's back and suddenly gasped. The power in this place is intense! There must really be a god that resides here!'

Seto changed from his dragon form to his human form and approached the shrine. He murmured a few words and drew some symbols into the air, finishing the summoning with a decisive silence. For a few moments, nothing happened. But then the Altar began to glow wildly in a myriad of colors, the same sort of light coming from the Altar and piercing the gray, lifeless sky. A figure could be discerned through the powerful illumination. Her skin was pale and taut, as if she was suffering from an illness. Her long hair, which Serenity had supposed had been beautiful at one time, was gray and ragged. Her dark gray eyes were haunting and drained. Her voice was a dreadful monotone of indifference as she spoke, Who goes there? Why have you come?

Seto kneeled down on one knee and bowed his head, Oh great deity of the Restless Realms, we are weary travelers seeking transport home by your generous hand.

The strange deity frowned for a moment and turned her stare on Serenity. You are the Deceiver's first child, are you not?

Serenity stammered slightly, alarmed at being addressed by the deity, I am Serenity.

The deity nodded slowly, her eyes becoming distant. ...Yes...I can see it... She smiled down at Serenity, Seto, and Ethereshade all in turn, You have great things awaiting you, travelers, and I will not be one to stand in your way. You shall have your request granted, as long as you grant one of my own at the end of your journey. Her eyes suddenly turned sad.

What do you ask of us? Seto asked.

I ask that you free me from my imprisonment. I will no longer be a tool of the Deceiver. I will no longer control destiny for him, the deity said, a fierce fire burning in her eyes.

Control destiny? Seto whispered to himself.

Yes, young Dragonblood, said the deity, who had overheard him, I am Lady Fate, and a prisoner of the Deceiver.

Seto hid his shock and replied, Then we will help free you, my Lady, as soon as possible.

Fate nodded and said quietly, One more thing, she paused briefly, Please, if you find yourselves able to, put this restless land to rest. All things must eventually die, and this world has lived for far too long.

The deity nodded and raised her hands up, leaving the three with her cryptic message. The three companions felt a strange sensation throughout their bodies, a sort of disconnection. It felt vaguely familiar to the fire-portals used by mages. No further contemplation was allowed, however, as the gray world of the Restless Realms disappeared before their eyes.

.....

Whew! I finally finished the chapter! Yay! Please review on your way out! : )