Chapter Sixteen: Speaking to a Memory

"What are you doing? How can you give up like that?" Anna demanded.

Sean couldn't believe what was happening, the dismal, hopeless scene had vanished, and he was sitting in a spring field in front of the woman that had been his mentor, his mother…

"…He…Zachwell, or whatever that was, was too strong," Sean said.

"No, Zachwell is dead, what you have is something much, much worse," Anna corrected.

"I couldn't kill Zachwell, nor could you!" Sean said defensively.

"I wasn't strong enough to, Sean. You had the power to destroy him all along; it's always been inside you. I know that creature is a thousand times more powerful that Zachwell ever was, but you haven't even used the full extent of the power you'd been granted," Anna said. Sean was taken aback, they'd delved into an argument as if she'd been watching all along. She cocked an eyebrow just as he thought this.

"What makes you think I haven't been?" She said. She held out a hand and pulled Sean to his feet. "Sean, I know you know you haven't fully used this…this…Ultimate Dragoon or whatever you want to call it. You're afraid, afraid that it will be too much. You're afraid that you'll have to truly give it all away, and then what if it doesn't work?"

"Exactly," Sean admitted.

"Some things are simply known in the place I'm coming from Sean, but not everything. One thing I know is that you have more power in your hands than any creature has ever had in the history of Endiness, even more than this thing you're fighting now. Unfortunately we don't know the outcome of you performing at your fullest," Anna said.

"Where are you coming from?" Sean asked curiously. Anna smiled, and shook her head.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you," she said. She and Sean laughed for a moment.

"I've missed you, all these years, and now you're right here, in front of me," Sean said. At this, however, Anna shook her head.

"No, here is nowhere, I'm really not even supposed to be doing this….But I couldn't let you become weak…I've missed you as well," she said, drawing Sean in for a long hug. "But in a moment you're going to have to go back to the real world, where I wont be there to help you. Your friends, Melissa, your Dragons, and every Wingly and human on the planet needs you to be strong for them. I need you to be strong. You can do this, you were born to save the world, Sean. You are so powerful, don't let doubt hide that from you. And now, oh my, now with your friends…with her…you are invincible, keep it all in mind…I have to go, I cannot stay any longer," Anna said. She drew Sean in again for a hug.

"You've made me so proud thus far, my son, now go save the world," Anna said. Sean clasped her tightly, shutting his eyes as a tear slid down his cheek.

"…Alright, mom, I've got this. I love you, thank you, and goodbye," Sean said, feeling a relief in saying goodbye.

"I love you too, goodbye," Anna said. Slowly, everything about them mystified and disappeared, leaving Sean again in Mayfil. Suddenly a white light surrounded him.

He felt the power surge through him, though it was different than if he'd been backed by the Dragons, this was his own ambition leading him now, his emotion, infinitely stronger than before. As he crashed into the ground he felt nothing of physical definition. What he did, was see with foresighted eyes.

He saw a green field, with various bugs flying around, glistening with the dew in the sunlight as the morning faded away, leading into the noon. He saw a football fly into Ben's hands, as he knelt down, still in perfect form. Then he saw himself, behind Ben, acting as a quarterback, and to their left, was Brad. Mirroring them, were Mike, Rob, and…Col. Sanders?

Sean laughed at this, but quieted as the scene changed. There was yellow-white, everywhere, layers of it lightly weighing Sean down, for this time he saw everything through his own eyes. Slowly he realized he was in a bed, and he gently rolled over, hoping so desperately to see what he'd always longed to see…

He wasn't disappointed.

There she was, sleeping peacefully, with her eyes closed, and her steady breathe moving in and out of her lungs. He reached out a hand, and brushed her long black hair away from her face…her beautiful face. She nuzzled closer, feeling his touch, but not opening her eyes, she held out and arm and pulled him tight, in an embrace that took Sean's breathe away.

He leaned in to kiss her head, and she moaned softly, and finally opened her eyes, "…Good morning," she said. Sean opened his mouth, but no words came out…finally the vision ended, and Sean was truly in Mayfil, and vowed not to leave until this enemy was dead.

He stood up, feeling not the least bit injured, despite the gash in his side. A light seemed to swirl and radiate around him, a light that came from him. He looked to the approaching Zachwell. He put a foot back, and poured the true power of eight Dragons, and a human prepared to die into his fist, and as soon as Zachwell was right in his face, he threw a punch that sent the demon sprawling, unable to regain his balance.

Sean took this moment to turn to his comrades, who'd finally arrived on the scene, panting with energy. Sean laughed. "They're not gonna be happy about all that running."

He kicked off, and extended his arms like he could with the Divine Dragoon's armor. His friends all stopped in their tracks, dumbfounded, but Sean scooped them up and raced them outside of the city. He touched down behind a mound, where they'd be safe. Before setting them down, he squeezed them all tightly, hoping that what he'd seen a moment before was fate. He set them down, and his helm parted and pulled to the sides of his face, showing them his human face.

He smiled. "You guys are the best, take care, in case I don't come back," he said, he gave a slightly weaker smile to Melissa, who grabbed his wrist.

"You're coming back," she said forcefully, she still had that intense look in her eyes that reminded Sean so much of Anna. He smiled stronger.

"Okay, I love you," he said. She grabbed his shoulders and jumped up for a quick kiss. With that, he gave a wave, and took off, letting his helm slide back over his face and melt together, and his doubt show on his face again.

He arrived in the center of the city and waited. Finally he saw Zachwell fly up to meet him, now slightly angry at the fact that a single blow had knocked him for so much of a whirl. Sean grunted.

All his ambition, his strength, his anger, and his love fueled him onwards now. Not to mention his responsibility. The weight of the world, for truly the first time, was on his shoulders alone, it was his trial, the test of his true strength. He wouldn't fail to save the world when he'd fought to save it so many times.

The light intensified, and for the first time he thought he saw fear in that demon's eyes. It quickly disregarded it, however, and rushed forward, beating out a dark aura to match Sean's light.

Sean merely called on more of his power, delving deep into the truth of what it was to be this Ultimate Dragoon. He put forth a hand and Zachwell simply stopped, struggling, but unable to move forward. Sean threw him to the ground, then pulled him back up to eye level.

He grabbed the demon by the mandibles, and kicked up into the roof of the mouth. Then he brought the head down on his spiked knee. He latched around Zachwell, and flew fast to the earth, throwing him to the ground just close enough to pull up and avoid hitting it himself.

He set down on the ground, as the demon burst upwards, in a flurry of punches, slashes, and kicks, none of which hitting their mark. Sean drew out his own blades, bathing them in light and fire, and cut deep gashes into his enemy, who seemed unable to heal himself so easily.

Finally, Zachwell stumbled back, holding a gut that was slowly healing three deep gashes. Sean let his blades dissipate, it was time. He brought his arms inwards, and then threw them out, feeling all of the power surge through him, triggering the most powerful magical attack in all of the arsenal that the new Dragoon had to offer. His eight wings shined a violent light, giving a sort of birth to a warrior that seemed to be composed of a specific element.

The fire warrior threw himself through Zachwell first, who burst into flame, crying out in agony. Then the water warrior doused the flames, and froze Zachwell in place, at absolute zero temperature. The earth warrior crushed him, and the light melted the demonic chunks of ice, and then scorched them. Clouds of the lightning warrior's creation dropped lighting onto the Dark Lord. The wind warrior's strike turned into a tempest of fierce wind and razor sharp leaves. The darkness engulfed Zachwell, where the demons of darkness waited for him, eager to do their caller's bidding. They tore him apart further, despite him being of their element.

The eye in his chest separated, the seven lesser Dragons' eyes spread out and encircled the eye of the Divine Dragon. A beam tore out of each eye, and through Zachwell, filling him with explosive energy. Zackwell was kept in place by some strange force, and hit by explosions on all sides, as if the very world were ending around him.

Yet the Ultimate Dragoon's attack did not end there. The Dragon came forth, as if it hadn't been injured at all. It beat Zackwell into the earth with its nose, and then opened its mouth just over him, and fired a blast down on it, dissipating just afterwards.

Now, the element that Zachwell was weakest against was light, so the attack was modified just for him. A miniature world of light encased him, searing his flesh, muscle, and even bone, increasing in temperature, until only the smoking ash remained. Sean let them fall to the soil.

"Now, comes the part I fear. But if I go, I at least know I'll take you, and this accursed city with me," he said as Zachwell revived himself.

The demon tried to crawl away, but Sean was on him. He buried his gauntlets into the Zachwell's back, but still dug deeper, up to his elbows, then his shoulders.

A strange magic allowed Sean to burrow his body into Zachwell's own, which caused the monster considerable pain. Sean closed his eyes, not desiring to see inside his enemy, he felt the power inside his armor swell, as the attack finally neared its close. He prayed quickly that his friends hadn't followed him.

Finally he was ready, Zachwell was swelled to twice his size again, with another person stuck inside him, he clawed at himself as the light burned his innards, but Sean was too far along, the attack was ready. Sean could only think of one name for it, and in one word, he spoke it softly as the magical explosion engulfed them both.

"Omni…"

Melissa had been peering over the hill's peak, but when the explosion erupted, she had to jump down to shield her eyes. The Dragoons saw the light reflect off the mountainsides of a range not far away. It was a million different flashes of all different colors.

It lasted for five minutes, shaking the earth, blinding any who looked to it. The Dragoons instantly despaired, how could Sean survive that explosion? How could anything ever survive that?

Finally it lessened, and a great shockwave sent what small remains of Mayfil tumbling over the hill, far off into the distance. When the shaking finally stopped, the Dragoons lifted up their heads, to find seven shining lights of red, gold, indigo, violet, blue, white, and jade coming closer to them. They held out their hands and their Dragoon spirits landed in them, hot from use.

"Where's Sean?" Ben asked.

…We…lost him in the explosion, he tossed us away as it began to die down, but he kept the Divine Dragon's spirit, Red-Eyes answered.

"That worries me, can you hear him calling to you?" Ben asked.

No.

"Why am I not surprised," Ben whispered. He activated the spirit, on low power at Red-Eyes' request, and the other's followed his lead. Melissa tore out in front of them, scanning the leveled crater of Mayfil for a sign of Sean.

For hours they scanned the area, calling his name, but received no reply, until they were near the center of the city.

There Melissa had to touch down, because something just felt stronger there, something like….like she simply knew he was there. "Sean?" She yelled. Again there was no reply. She called Robert over, to have a gust lightly blow away the dust.

After a moment, they saw a hand, and Melissa grabbed it and pulled it up, slipping on the blood. He was bruised and cut everywhere, but when she held him tightly against her, she felt his heartbeat. She clutched him tightly, weeping on his head. After a moment, she felt a weak hand rest on her shoulder, and opened her eyes to stare into his.

A faint smile shone through the dirt and sweat on his face. "Hey there," he said weakly. Melissa kissed him quickly, hearing him attempt to say "ow," but stop when she held him tighter.

"You are SO lucky you made it out of that alive," Melissa said when she was done, and Sean laughed quietly with her.

"I know…believe me I know," he said. "So…do you think Christie could start working on me say…now?" He asked.

"Yes, I think so," Christie said, calling on the White Silver Dragon to heal some of his wounds.

"Good, I think, maybe I earned a nap?" Sean inquired as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

"Oh I think so," Mike said. Sean smiled.

"Good, but it wasn't just me, you guys were there too…" he said, pointing a finger around at them all. However, before they could inquire as to what he meant, his hand fell down and hung limp off Melissa's lap.

"Let's get out of here," Ben said. They all nodded and began the long flight home…

Authors' Note: Hey y'all! Sorry about the wait, but a lot is happening. And so, it's the end of Zackwell, did you like it? Tell us what you think, we're begging, let's get a flood of reviews, if you've read this far, we BEG you! Please review!