Okay, next chapter is here everyone. I hope you're enjoying the story so far, I know that I am. I think that everyone will be on the edge of their seat by the end of this first story, but that's why we have another story after this one. This is the Dark Age series. I actually know that there will be three stories in this for sure, maybe four. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 11: In the Dragon's Den

As the party made their way through the desert the next day, Storm mainly kept to herself. She figured that everyone was probably upset with her about her outburst the other day and she didn't want to upset them anymore, especially Lloyd. It didn't matter anymore what they wanted anyway, Storm was going to take this into her own hands anyway. They were getting closer to the Fire Seal and she just wanted to find the shard and move along to the next one. Suddenly, Lloyd made his way to the back of the group so he could talk to Storm while they traveled. Storm wouldn't even look him in the eyes as she crossed her arms over chest and looked at the ground as they walked.

"Storm, about yesterday. I'm sorry, I know that I probably looked like a jerk. I really do want to find Anna, but if she gets the shards before us then she could kill her off anyway. This way we're ensuring her safety. Once we get the shards we can figure out some way to get Anna back safely. If we have the shards then she's at our mercy," Lloyd told her.

Storm thought about what he was saying. It made sense, but Anna's life was easier for Sutra to use as bait than the shards and Storm was afraid that if the group used the shards as bait Sutra would use Anna as bait as well, then they'd have a stalemate. She decided that what she was planning was the best way to go. But, she couldn't ignore the fact that Lloyd had actually thought of Anna and wanted to help her as well. She had to forgive him, even if he hadn't completely forgiven her.

"I'm sorry too, I must have seemed like such an ungrateful person. I have all these people who are out trying to rescue Anna and all I can do is complain. I'm sorry, you must hate me," Storm said sadly without once looking at Lloyd in the eyes. She still had memories of being beaten for looking someone in the eyes after angering them and she couldn't help but look down. Lloyd was quick to notice the way that she was acting, but didn't really know anything about the extreme of her past.

"Hey, I don't hate you. You know, I'm not on the ground, you can look at me," he replied happily.

Storm looked up slowly and saw that Lloyd was smiling at her, trying to get her to cheer up. Storm managed to give a weak smile to him, only to satisfy him.

"Sorry," Storm said.

"Don't start doing that. We don't need two apologizers on this trip. Colette is plenty for me to deal with. So I'll tell you once, 'You don't need to apologize dork,'" he laughed at her.

Storm couldn't help but laugh at this comment as she looked ahead to where the group was heading. She then noticed that the Fire Seal was just over the horizon. "Look, there it is. We're almost there," Storm told Lloyd excitedly.

"Wow, it hasn't changed at all even after all these years," Lloyd said in amazement.

"Well let's see if the shard is inside of the Temple or outside it," Sheena said as she began to chant. "I call upon the red giant, the ruler of hellfire! I summon thee, come Efreet!" Sheena called as Efreet soon appeared before the group.

"What does the pact-maker wish?" he asked her.

"Do you know where Mithos' Crystal shard is. We know that it's around here somewhere, but is it inside or outside of the ruins?" Sheena asked.

"Please say that it's inside," the Professor was muttering over and over under her breath.

"You just want to study the ruins!" Genis yelled at her before receiving a large lump on his head from his sister.

Efreet focused in on his energy for a few moments before answering Sheena's question. "The shard that you are searching for is inside of the ruins," he answered.

"Yes!" Raine cheered loudly. Genis just rolled his eyes, without opening his mouth, too afraid that he'd receive another beating.

"Well, I guess that means we get to head inside," Lloyd said confidently.

The rest of the group seemed ready to go inside as they followed the swordsman into the dark depths of the ruins. When they got inside they looked around and noticed that the temperature was increasing with every step they took. It was also getting brighter as they reached the center of the ruins. Once they were in the deepest part of the ruin they saw the lava that was flowing near the floors as the heat became even more extreme. The heat was so intense that it was almost unbearable.

"I don't remember it being this hot in here," Colette said to the rest of the group.

"Yeah, the last time we were in here, it was at least bearable," Genis added.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Kratos told the group, causing them to watch their backs closely.

They were all looking all over the place for the shard so they could get out of the hot building. Suddenly, Presea's eyes caught something shining at one end of the room. She pointed to the sparkling gem as she shouted to the group, "It's over there!"

"All right, let's get it and get out of here," Lloyd replied happily as Storm, Kratos, Raine, and him ran for the gem, being closest to it.

"This is easier than I thought it was going to be," Storm said as she ran towards the shard. Suddenly, the room began to shake until the floor broke in front of them and a huge monster flew up. It crawled up from underneath the floor and slipped into the lava beside the piece of floor that was by the shard. Soon, it's head popped out from the lava and the group got a good look at it.

It was a huge dragon. The dragon was probably three men high and two men long and it had four red eyes that were staring at its prey. It had obviously taken care of all the smaller monsters that had once been in the ruins and it looked like it was ready for another meal. The dragon was red and its large claws scratched at the pavement in front of it as it attempted to pull itself out of the lava. Once it did get out of it, the group could see that it had a long tail with blade-like projections on the end of it. It swished its tail back and forth, knocking a few rocks down from the ceiling as it slammed into the wall. The dragon snorted, revealing that it could breath fire as fire and smoke came from it's nose and mouth.

"You have got to be kidding me," Storm said hopelessly.

"Get ready," Kratos warned the group as they pulled out their weapons as the others from the other end of the room began to slowly make their way towards the four that were confronted by the dragon.

"I'm ready," Lloyd said as he pulled his swords out in front of him.

Kratos, Lloyd, and Storm all ran in to attack the dragon as it watched, unafraid, as its prey moved towards it. Storm pulled back first as she began to chant an attack from farther away. Lloyd rushed up and dodged one of the dragon's claws as it slammed it down on the ground, causing the ground to shake. Lloyd took this opportunity to use his Heavy Tiger Blade attack as he slashed through the dragon, causing it to cry out in pain. Kratos then attacked the spot that Lloyd had hit with his Lightning Blade attack to cause double pain. Storm was just about ready to finish her incantation and she could tell that after Lloyd and Kratos' attacks she would have to finish it soon because the dragon was upset.

"I beg of you to reveal thy glory. Angel Feathers!" Storm called out as brightly colored blue wings sprung out from her back and the feathers flew out towards the monstrous beast. The attack; however only seemed to irritate it more as it scratched off the attack and saw Storm and Kratos standing next to each other. Before Storm and Kratos had time to figure out what was going on the dragon's powerful tail was flying at them and they couldn't avoid it. Storm could feel as the dragon's blades on its tail sliced into her as she and Kratos were thrown into a wall. Raine was rushing over to where the two of them after they didn't try to get up. The dragon, though, decided that it wanted to finish its prey off. That is, until it was hit from behind.

"Hell Pyre," Zelos called out as he attacked the dragon from behind, causing it to spin around to find its attacker. It glared at Zelos as their gazes met. Zelos began to evade the dragon as it prepared to launch a fire blast at him. He dragon took in a deep breath and let out a huge blast of fire that threatened to engulf Zelos. Suddenly, a wall of water stopped the fire as Zelos was surrounded by a thick cloud of steam. Once it had cleared Zelos looked over and saw Sheena standing next to Undine who was prepared to launch another attack.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with fire?" Sheena asked as Undine unleashed another powerful water attack right at the dragon who reared back in extreme pain when it came in contact with the water. After it was hit it slithered back towards the lava and crawled into the molten substance.

Genis and Sheena both understood that water attacks would be most effective to defeat the monster. That is, until Sheena got an even better idea as she called out to Genis. "Hey Genis, launch your Tidal Wave attack. I have an idea," she said as she readied herself to summon another Summon Spirit.

Suddenly, the monster reappeared and Presea and Lloyd were back on the offensive as Raine attempted to heal the injured Storm and Kratos. They were both pretty much knocked out and were sliced up by the monster's massive tail. Presea rushed at the monster and attacked it with her Eternal Damnation attack as she slammed her axe into the ground before performing a somersault and slamming into the dragon again. This attack caused the dragon to actually fall over, showing Presea's true strength in action. Lloyd came up behind her, attacking the dragon with his Beast Sword Rain, while it was weakened. He stabbed the beast multiple times before finishing his attack with the power of his beast attack.

By this point the dragon was beginning to get tired and Sheena knew it. The dragon slowly got up and began to make its way toward the rest of the group which were standing near Genis and Sheena. Genis saw his opportunity and released his attack and Sheena began to chant. "Tidal Wave!" Genis called as the majority of the battlefield was flooded with water causing the dragon to almost collapse upon impact, but it just wouldn't give up. Of course, Sheena still had another trick up her sleeve.

"I call upon the hammer of godly thunder! I summon thee, come Volt," she yelled as Volt appeared in a flash of lightning. He immediately released a powerful spark wave of electricity at the now damp beast. The electricity ran through the dragon as it cried out in a shrill scream. It finally collapsed and began to vanish in an eruption of flames. Soon, all that was left of the monster were its ashes which soon were blown away.

The group all looked at each other, all badly shaken by the battle and some were injured by the attack, especially Kratos and Storm who were starting to finally come around. Storm painfully sat up and looked at everyone else, realizing that she had missed the rest of the battle.

"I really hope they're not all like that," Storm said.

"Ditto," Kratos said as he came up holding his head.

"Let's just get the shard and get out of here," Sheena said to Lloyd who walked over to the shining gem and picked it up and put it in his pack with the other one. They then left the scorching ruins to get some fresh, cool air. Then, they would have to move on to the next seal.

Well, that's it for this chapter. I hope you all liked the battle. I hope it wasn't too bad. Anyway, tell me what you thought. Review! Thanks for reading!