A/N: Let me know if you have questions, comments, or don't think I've explained something well. Your thoughts are appreciated!
----------------------------------------------------"Down there!" Lina bellowed, pointing as they circled the island.
"Do you really think so?" a loud voice streamed back to her, and she dug her knees into the golden scales below her.
"I hope to the gods that I'm not right," she muttered to herself, her ruby eyes glaring at the mountain as though her gaze alone could bore through its surface.
"But why would he be here?" the golden dragon asked, dipping lower. "Why would Xellas have him? She wasn't after him, was she?"
"She's after everyone, I think," Lina replied. "Ready?"
"For what? There's a barrier around the island-"
"Ragna Blade!" Lina screamed, and leapt from the back of the dragon. The black energy crackled to life in her palms and shot away from her. Her arms vibrated with its force, the sockets of her shoulders shaking with the strength of the spell. She didn't even bother to cast a levitation spell as she plummeted towards the ground, merely raised her arms above her head and brought the blade down with all the force she could muster. An explosion engulfed her, smoke filling her eyes and choking her, and her slight frame was actually blown upward again by the blast, the hot wind filling her cloak and scorching the ends of her hair.
"Miss Lina!" she heard the dragon call, but the smoke in her lungs wouldn't allow her to form a reply. Angling her body like an arrow, she aimed herself at the ground once more as shattered remnants of a magical barrier spun past her. A creaking noise resounded throughout the air and she released the Nightmare magic, her body cavity resonating with the sound of the dome splintering and falling to pieces. She watched the ground carefully, eyebrows setting into a grim scowl as black shapes began to pour out of the mountain and jungles, covering the beaches with darkness.
"Cover me!" she croaked as best she could, and readied a Dragon Slave as she continued her descent. The spell ripped away from her hands and decimated the landscape below. Black figures and vegetation disintegrated in a gale of sand, and Lina crossed her arms in front of her face, turning her head to the side in order to protect herself from the blasting winds.
"Laser Breath!" she heard the dragon bellow above her, and a fiery swatch was cut in the squirming black bodies.
"Ray Wing!" Lina screamed at the ground, the force of her spell propelling her away from the sand and back into the air, where she cast a levitation spell and landed lightly in a pile of debris. "Well done, Filia," Lina whispered to herself, and began a mad dash for the cave she knew was in the side of the mountain. Filia's Laser Breath continued to wreak mayhem all around her, but the lesser Monsters were sufficiently distracted by the golden dragon to barely notice her passage. She hoped that the wolves that roamed the island were also sufficiently distracted, but she knew that dwelling on such things would divide her attention and cost her precious seconds. There were most likely mere moments between her and discovery by the Greater Beast, and she had no time to waste.
Magic, however, Lina had in spades, and so she decided to waste some more and took to the air, speeding toward the mountain. She still wasn't sure what she would do. They hadn't really planned past the diversion part. It seemed that pure luck had driven Filia to find her, but Lina knew that wasn't the case. That stupid boy, Val, had seen fit to just up and leave his mother, giving no explanation for his abscence. He had left behind an envelope with Lecia's handwriting on it, but the accompanying letter was nowhere to be found. Not knowing what to do, Filia had looked up Lina first. The sorceress thought that Filia's time would have been better served flying directly to Seyruun and finding out if Val had visited Lecia, but then things wouldn't have worked out as neatly for her. Something inside her told her that there was only one place on earth that Xellos could be, if he was still alive, and not be able to escape: home sweet home. She suspected that Lecia had somehow figured that out and asked Val to help her out. She hoped she was wrong, not allowing herself to even consider that her children were in danger, but had to admit that if her theory was true, Lecia had a pretty good idea. The dragons were really the only force left on earth, besides her own family, that could stand up to the Monsters. With Filia's power, Lina thought she just might be able to take the place by force, and so that was exactly what she was doing.
Lina let out a breath as her feet hit the cold, slick rock of the dark cave, the hisses and screaming of the lesser Monsters echoing behind her as Filia slaughtered them wholesale. The sounds of scuttling creatures came from up ahead, and was that the clicking of claws on stone that she heard? Not wanting to find out, Lina let loose another Dragon Slave into the passage ahead of her. Yelps and screeches answered her, and she plowed through the stench of charred carcasses and the strange, almost salty-sweet smell of matter disappearing to the astral plane. Paying heed to none of it, she dashed forward through the series of curving tunnels, remembering the way she had taken to save her husband from the clutches of his mistress the first time.
She was sprinting through the corridors when she skidded to a halt, peering at the huge woooden doors down a short hallway to her left. Lina had already left the vacant throne room and some sort of strange, empty cavern behind and was deep within the mountain. The doors looked somehow familiar to her, and although she hadn't been there in nearly sixteen years, she thought she knew what they were. The portal in front of her led to Xellos' quarters; she was nearly sure of it. Hand trembling slightly, she reached for the handle, and barely had the time to throw up a protective barrier as an explosion threw her against the wall and everything was covered in dark smoke.