Chapter 49: Saved

The dragons and halfling had split up to find Axle in different parts of the mountain. Ohimia and Garin went to the east and Hewey went to the west. Atlas turned back into a dragon and climbed up the mountain, hoping to use the heights to elevate her sights and spot out Axle easily. The rain made it impossible to track down his scent as the water and moist air would wash it away, so sight was the only way to find him. The magi had her eyes nearly shut to keep the raindrops from pelting her eyes. But adapting to what narrow vision she had, she did okay in her climbing. Just then, an explosion was heard from a distance, followed by black smoke rising from somewhere. Atlas looked at it and thought, 'What the heck was that?' She wondered if she should abandon her search for a bit and check it out. But she decided against it as finding Axle was more important. After she got to a cliff, the magi looked around at the place below her to see if she could spot her friend. She found Ohimia and Garin walking towards a shirtless human with white hair lying in a pool of his own blood at the shore of the pond. The halfling sucked in a few deep breaths before he took the white tower shield with a black trim off of the man's body. He created two small flames floating above his thumb and forefinger of his right hand, and then he pinched together the skin on either side of the wound, allowing the skin to meld together. He then slid his fingers across the rest of the large gash, sealing it and stopping the blood flow.

After Garin was done, Ohimia picked up the man with her mouth and put him on her back to carry. Atlas flew down towards the two to get a closer look at the white-haired man they were aiding. Ohimia looked at her and said, "Oh Atlas, I was just about to ask you to teleport us over to that dragon you brought here to help." Showing the man on her back and looking over to him, she continued, "You see? We found this human lying hurt on the-"

"Yes, I saw," Atlas interrupted before the lumina can say more of what the magi's already seen. As she approached the lumina, she said, "I'm just here to good look at him and see if he's safe to left live."

Ohimia looked at Atlas and questioned, "Safe to let live?"

The magi replied, "Yeah, because you know. Some humans are hunters who won't hesitate to attack us without a second thought." She observed the human's appearance and clothes to see if he had any weapons. What she saw had surprised her. The man had the same exact weapons as Axle and also the same exact face. "Axle?" she asked in shock. Her friend looked like he had gotten attacked again and for some reason his hair color had turned white. What the heck just happened while she was gone and the others weren't looking?

Ohimia looked at the magi in surprise as she asked, "Wait, that man is Axle? But his hair is white."

"I know," said Atlas. "But take a closer look at him, he's got the same stuff and face as him."

The lumina turned her head around to the unconscious man and saw the same things that the other dragoness was seeing. "Hey, you're right," she said. Then she asked, "But how did all this happen to him?"

Atlas shook her head and said, "I have no idea, but we better take him over to Hewey fast!" Then she teleported everyone over to the healer dragon.

After they were taken to another part of the mountain, they found Hewey looking through some bushes before he raised his head up. "Whoaa!" Ohimia moaned as she felt kind of strange in a dizzy sort of way from having been teleported from one place to another in an instant.

Hewey looked behind at them and turned to face them as he said, "Atlas, did you find Axle?"

"I did," confirmed the magi. Then she got out of the way to let him see Ohimia turn to show the wounded man on her back.

The healer looked at the "man" in puzzlement as he asked, "That's Axle? It looks like he put on a new look since I last saw him."

Atlas said, "I'm telling the truth, it is him." She goaded him, "Now please hurry up and heal him."

"Alright, I'm on it," said Hewey before he took Axle off the lumina's back and begun to work on him. He ripped the chest open with his claw and exposed the lungs inside. A rib could be seen sticking through one of the lungs. Ohimia gasped in shock by what she saw, while Atlas gritted her teeth, trying to hide her horror. Hewey moved the rib out of the lung and used his healing magic to seal up the lung's hole and fix the ribs back into place. Then after that, he sealed the chest closed before looking at the magi to tell her, "There, it's done. He's all better now." Atlas smiled thankfully and Ohimia sighed in relief; the former was glad to have this dragon as one of her allies. She could always come to him whenever Axle was out of commission and she needed help. Then the healer suggested, "You know? Your friend always seems to get into trouble when I'm not around. Perhaps I should stick with you until you're done with this Trident Mountain adventure. I'm sure Aeolus wouldn't mind."

Atlas knew that having him around would be beneficial, so she decided to him into the group. She said, "Sure thing! With you around, we can keep on going without any more trouble slowing us down."

Hewey smiled back and said, "I'm glad you're find with me." Then he looked up at the dark cloudy sky and said, "We should go find shelter now, lest we get pneumonia. There we can rest until the rain stops."

"Good idea," the magi agreed. "Everybody let's go!" Then they went to look for a place to cover themselves from the rain. They found a cave and went inside to rest for the time being. Atlas had Axle laid against her side with her tail wrapped around him protectively. She looked him in concern; although he had been healed, she wondered if it was enough to save him. The magi thought, 'Please wake up soon, Axle. I don't want you dying on me.'

Kekul's team had returned to Aeolus, unharmed and in perfect condition. The magi reported in good spirits, "Aeolus, our job went well. Everybody's sent to Windfall and we never had to fight Arch either."

The horde leader was amazed that the mission went this perfectly well, but he was curious and confused as to why the team never got into a confrontation with Arch. He praised them, "Well done, you three. I congratulate you for a fine success." Then he asked, "But why didn't Arch try to stop you?" This was rather odd for a foe who attacked the village to capture some slaves and then finish off the rest.

Kekul shook his head and answered, "We don't know. We never saw him when I was going around teleporting dragons away."

Bam tilted his head puzzled and said, "Huh, that's odd. I wonder why he didn't stick around."

Doubloon said, "I'm wondering that, too. But regardless, I'm glad my people are safe. They were all really lucky this time."

"Seems so," agreed Aeolus.

Bam said, "So now that everyone's safe and sound, I guess we send you over to Windfall now?"

The chief said, "Yes, I would like to see my people again." Looking back to the horde leader, he said gratefully, "Aeolus, I thank you again for all that you have done for us. You and your horde will be forever considered heroes to us."

Aeolus replied, "I feel honored that you would keep us in history, Chief Doubloon, but it's not necessary. After all, it's our job as the Vulture Horde to help out every dragon in need."

Doubloon insisted, "Thus why you'll always be welcomed in the village." Looking at the magma magi, he said to him, "I'm ready to go now, sir."

Kekul responded, "Alright then."

As the magi was getting ready to cast the spell, Doubloon looked back at the horde leader and said, "Good bye, Aeolus." Then he vanished and was warped away to Windfall.

Aeolus responded to the chief telepathically, 'Farewell Doubloon and don't tell anyone in Windfall about us or they'll kick you out.'

'Well I don't know why they would do this, but I'll trust you.'

'Thank you for understanding,' the horde leader replied before their telepathy was over.

But another one soon took its place and this time it was from Atlas, who asked him, 'Aeolus, it's me, Atlas, and I got a question I want you to answer.'

Aeolus replied, 'Ask away, Atlas.'

The magi said, 'Someone named Rina said that her friend heard that your horde wants to kill all humans.'

The disaster dragon was taken by surprise and not in a good way. Of all the rotten luck, Atlas and Rina had known each other somehow. This fact was not only going to ruin his friendship with the magi, but also put a hamper on his plan to destroy all humans in Shadow Wind and rescue the villagers taken prison. Aeolus quickly recovered his calm and said, 'Atlas, I already told you, my stance has changed and I don't plan on doing wiping out the innocents along with the guilty.'

Atlas countered, 'But her friend learned about this yesterday and she confirmed it after asking you.' In desperate hold on her belief to him, she continued, 'I know you're not the type to lie to me, but what they said are the exact opposite of what you told me. I want to believe you, but it sounds like Rina's telling the truth. Aeolus, you didn't lie to me, right?' The horde leader gritted his teeth anxiously. How was he supposed to lie his way out of this one? If he said something, then Atlas will just tell Rina about it and then Atlas will get closer to the truth. This was a tough cookie to crack and he needed to think hard about a cunning and convincing lie to fool the magi. When Atlas didn't get a response, she asked again, 'Aeolus?'

The horde leader then came up with something as he lied, 'Oh sorry, Atlas. I was just talking to someone.' Then he told her, 'Anyway, Rina is an enemy of mine. Some bad stuff happened and she's never been able to forgiven me for it. She's quite a vengeful dragoness; so vengeful that she will make up any lies to make others she dislike look bad.'

Atlas said displeased, 'Well damn, that sounds like one fucked-up dragoness. I ought to give her a piece of my mind for scaring me like this.'

The thought of the magi contacting Rina alarmed Aeolus. He needed to stop her now and fast before it was too late. Maintaining his composure, he advised, 'Don't bother with her Atlas, it's not worth it. Just focus on your quest and come back safely.'

Thankfully, she listened without question as she replied, 'Alright, got it. Hope I'll see you soon.'

'As I, too,' said Aeolus before their telepathic conversation was over. With how Rina and Raven nearly foiled his conquest plan, the horde leader sought to punish the ones who foolishly passed out this confidential secret to them. The two most likely suspects for this he had in mind were Fakoo and Umdomiel, considering how he saw them with Raven yesterday. He was so mad at them that he was going to make them pay. But he didn't let his anger be known to them yet, least they try to lie to him to avoid punishment, he had to keep his cool like he did when talking with Atlas. After that, he'll scold them. He spoke to them telepathically, 'Fakoo, Umdomiel, did you tell Raven about our horde's real purpose?'

The charcoal dragon answered, 'No, never.' He sounded very honest with his answer, meaning he was clearly innocent.

But the albino on the other hand sounded regretful, 'I did... Did something happen?'

Now with the culprit found, the horde leader directed his anger towards her and answered, 'Yes! Today, Raven told Rina about her plans and now we have two new enemies to deal with. They're going to do everything they can to stop us and we haven't even been to Shadow Wind yet.'

Fakoo apologized frantically, 'Oh Aeolus, I didn't know. I thought that he hated humans that he wouldn't mind us killing them. I mean he sounded like he did.'

Aeolus scolded, 'Just because someone doesn't like humans, doesn't mean that they won't oppose our mission. For your failing to keep this secret to yourself, you will be forced to do all the dinner hunting alone for the horde. No ifs or buts.'

Fakoo sighed unhappily, 'Ohhhh...'

Umdomiel tried to reason with him, 'Aeolus, I know what Fakoo did was wrong. But trying to feed everyone alone would take hours and some of us might end up with empty stomachs. With permission, I would like to hunt with her. You know? To make this quicker, even if it's by a small amount.'

Aeolus found the charcoal's suggestion to be a bit more logical, even though the hunt will still take a long while. He said, 'Very well, you may go with her.' Then to the dragoness, he gave her a stern warning, 'And Fakoo, if you tell anyone else about this, you will be kicked out of the horde. Do you understand?'

Fakoo replied, 'Yes sir.'

The horde leader told, 'Good, you'd best keep your mouth silent about this at all times.' Then their telepathy was over.

Time passed in the courtyard in front of the ruined building courthouse. Minutes turned into hours as the guards seemed to start increasing in numbers around the courthouse building. The Firestar sisters had remained quiet throughout the whole time after getting over their distress of being kidnapped. They had initially thought that Arch and the guards were going to hurt them, but after a while with no harm whatsoever, that thought gradually died down. But still they weren't happy with simply being prisoners. The sisters wanted to leave this dreadful place and could only hope that their aunt would come to rescue them eventually, but when will she come exactly? This long wait was agitating their minds with Danielle being the most affected. Sometimes she would try to go the maximum length from the pole and break her chain that held her, or bite on that metal and hope that it would break. These futile actions never succeeded and the whiptail was still stuck here with her sister. Soon, every guard stopped when two large familiar dragons appeared in the courtyard. The lords did not even look in the hatchlings' direction. Arch said something to one of the guards and the guard replied back to them in the same manner. The sisters tried to listen in on the conversation, but the lords' words were out of their earshot and they couldn't figure out what was being said, except to guess that the two dragons were going to hurt them now. But again, the violence eluded them as both Arch and Dracul left the courtyard, heading in their own direction. Then something weird started to happen in the courtyard and every guard seemed like they were on edge. The sisters were confused by this as Danielle asked, "Kywie, what going on?"

The balloon hatchling replied, "I dun know." About five minutes passed and a dark fog started to fill the courtyard. The guards drew their weapons as the fog crept up into the courtyard, blanketing the whole place in a dark cloud. It was ice cold to anyone's skin that it touched. A scream came from somewhere in the courtyard, followed by another, and then another. A random arm from one of the guards fell in front of the hatchlings like it was ripped off by something. The smell of human flesh and blood coming from it was appetizing to Danielle. It was nice to have some food after all this time, but the whiptail's interest was more focused on the fog. Whatever cut off that arm must be somewhere within the fog. In the black fog, little red eyes could be seen as they started to slowly approach the hatchlings. These little figures could be seen in the fog as if they were circling around the hatchlings, almost like these things were looking at the sisters like a fine dinner, debating on where to start. This very sight set an eerie atmosphere that the sisters were scared by this. Danielle and Kylie huddled together for safety, hoping that the monsters don't get them. The monsters seemed like they were about to pounce when a human-like figure came into their view. They silently walked away from the hatchlings to deal with their uninvited guest. The sound of nothing was soon cut by a blade cutting through the air, making contact with whatever these things were. The things scampered off away from whoever this was as the fog retreated, but not far away.

What the fog revealed was the blue-armored "man" from before and his scythe was covered in this dark greenish blood. He quickly shook the blood off as his weapon has already started to rot away, almost like it was being dissolved. He quickly turned his attention to the still-chained hatchlings and sliced through the chains that bound them. He said to them, "Run now. I will be right behind you."

"Okay," both sisters said. Using the escape trick that their aunt taught them, Kylie inflated herself to become light as a feather and Danielle wrapped her tail around the balloon's foot. The whiptail ran off, taking her sister with her, with her superior speed quickly widening the distance between them and the fog. Then the blue-armored man quickly sped up past them after a few seconds. But despite their speeds to get away, the fog seeped from the concrete road under them as if they had just walked into a trap. Danielle and Kylie were taken by both scare and surprise as the fog rose up beneath them. The whiptail stopped to a halt as her sister's inflated body was still being moved by the force of her run earlier until Kylie hit and bounced off of her sister's back softly like a balloon her breed was named after. The sisters screamed as their surroundings became covered in the black fog that had created the monsters. Their attempt at escape had failed and now these terrible creatures were going to eat them alive. They looked around for the glowing red eyes, which were the trait of the monsters, not that the sisters wanted to see them. But what awaited them instead was a shadowy human-like figure emerging from the fog with red blink-less eyes. It moved like a ragged doll.

The armored man asked, "Who summon you and why are you here?" But the shadow only looked at him, kind of tilting its head to the question. It soon pointed a figure at the hatchlings. The man asked, "What exactly do you want with them?"

A female voice came from behind them, answering, "It's not what it wants to do, Lucian, but what I want to do with them."

"Talmisa," Lucian said as he turned to face the new enemy in front of him. He removed his helmet. His eyes were full of hate for this woman and he was showing his fangs at her.

Talmisa's hands were behind her back as she wore a tight black dress with an open center with criss-cross pattern in that open center and some extremely high shoes. "Oh come on now, dear father. Is that any way to treat your daughter?"

"You are no daughter of mine, snake. You are nothing but a blight on our family name," Lucian said as he readied his weapon in a stance as if he was holding a pike.

"You say that, but then what does that make you? A coward, a traitor. Hell, you could not even protect mother or brother. Well how could you when you were gone? They did get judged by the wind law, so not much you could have done there now is there." She had an evil grin when she said that, but still maintained her pose, as if she was a royal.

Danielle was fearfully curious about Talmisa's intent, asking, "What do you wan with us?"

Lucian looked at the woman for a second before he started to fade from sight. Talmisa just smiled before she just moved her hands from her back. The smell of blood filled the air as the woman brought her hand up to her mouth and giggled a bit, saying, "Did you honestly though a simple illusion trick would have worked on me? After all, you did train me in that art." Lucian popped out of his illusion, holding his arm as his weapon was now destroyed and shatter into bits. The man looked a bit surprised until his head slid from his shoulder and fell down to the ground. "Hm, that was a bit too easy," Talmisa said as Lucian's body soon vanished from sight.

The sisters became terrified as Kylie shrieked and Danielle screamed, "Nooo!" Their one hero, who had gone from being their captor to saving their lives from the monsters, was now dead; or so they thought. As if by some kind of magic, a completely unscathed Lucian manifested behind Talmisa and swung at her neck, trying to take off her head. She dunked down, making him miss. She countered with a swift movement of her hands as Lucian was now this time cut into five slices. For a second, the sisters thought he was gone for good until after the body vanished again came four Lucians all coming out of the fog.

"What the hell?" Talmisa said. She started to swing wildly in the air, slashing each man as more just keeps on coming. Then soon, the shadow creature got involved to protect its master from harm. They fought each Lucian that was coming at them over and over.

Another Lucian uncloaked himself of whatever cloth made him invisible as he appeared next to the sisters. He told them, "Come you two, it's time to go. They are stuck in this fight until the spell wears off as the fight takes place mostly in her mind. I rather not be anywhere near her when it stops working."

Both sisters replied obediently, "Okay." Then they followed the 'man' through the streets to get as far away from the bad woman and her creatures. They headed towards the right turn street and kept on walking down the road. They had haste in their steps as they walked down the road. They went to the left a few roads down, passing broken down cars and cars that were stripped of their parts, and then right with the same things on the road. The next turn they went down was an alleyway that was a bit darker than the road and it had broken objects all over the place like glass and broken metal. They stopped in front of a door and Lucian straight up kicked the door open. He motioned to the hatchlings to come inside ad they followed him in. The room was a bit darker and ransacked with a lot of things thrown on the floor. Looking around curiously, Danielle asked, "Where are we?" Lucian took a second before he entered the room. He closed the door behind him and soon the room was filled with a metallic scent of blood. The sisters sniffed around at the air, trying to locate its source. After hearing something drop on the floor, they quickly turned their heads to Lucian, whose scythe was on the ground. At a closer look, it had a gash in the shaft end of the weapon and the gash was deep in the blue metal. It was clear that the scent was coming from Lucian, but where? He walked by the hatchlings and started to open one room after another until he went into one with a sink and a mirror. The sisters followed him to the room, but stood behind the doorway to see what he was doing.

Lucian's chest plate fell to the floor with a large thud. He went up to the mirror as he gripped the sink for support. His entire right side of his ribs had a gash in it, but there was not a single cut on the armor. Then he started to cough up blood into the sink. He looked back at the mirror and had a nasty look on his face. He punched the mirror in frustration as it shattered and opened up the cabinet behind him. The man backed up to the wall and leaned against it. He placed a hand on his side that was cut open. He looked around the bathroom for something and found a thin cloth. He wrapped it around his chest as it was barely able to make it before he tied it off. Then Lucian sat down on the ground and took the rest of his armor off, revealing the rest of his body. His arm was scarred from burns, cuts, and much more unexplainable marks. Seeing the wounds on his arm, the sisters knew that Talmisa had hurt him like that. The man then stacked his armor on top of each other and said something as it collapsed down into a blue ball. He had a chain around it like a necklace did that humans wear around sometimes. He grabbed it and said a few more words before the blue color faded away from the sphere as it cracked and split into two similar size spheres. Lucian coughed out more blood into his open hand and he saw the red liquid substance. "Damn," he said softly.

The sisters started to become worried for his well-being as Danielle took a few steps into the room with Kylie peering past the doorway. The whiptail asked, "Mister, are you okay?"

Lucian kind of chuckled a bit and said, "No, my dear, I am not. To explain it shortly, my time on this world has run its course." He coughed again before saying, "That little stunt back there I did is why I'm leaving this world. But before I do continue my journey to the stars above, there are a few things I need to do first." He turned to the doorway. "It requires both of you, little one."

"Me and Danielle?" asked Kylie, touching the tips of her fingers to her scaly chest.

Wondering how to help, Danielle asked, "What can we do?"

Lucian motioned for Kylie to come over. She went up to him and he said, "I need to take those things off your neck for start. After that, I'll give you details on how to get out of the city safely, and once you are out you can contact whoever you want to come pick you up."

The sisters both smiled when they learned that taking the collar off and escaping the city will allow contact their aunt to rescue them. Danielle beamed, "Kywie, we gonna to be fwee!"

"Yay!" cheered the balloon.

Lucian first undid Kylie's collar, which all he did was snap it at a point just under the hinges of the collar. He did the same with Danielle's collar next. He then slipped over their necks the two pendants his armor created. "Listen carefully, because I don't have time to repeat myself. First, you need to exit out of one of the broken windows around here and get back on the street, that rocky flat black thing outside, and follow it down the way I was originally heading. About two roads, not small alleyways, thin roads that go in between the buildings, but one with cars left on them that are as wide as that black road is. Take a left on that road till you come across a large hole in the ground," he said before he coughed again. "There in the hole should be rushing water, like a rapid. You are to jump into it and it should give you a one-way ticket to the ocean," he said as he gave a mental image to Kylie. "Use that to show them to pick you up before you fly out the end of the pipe. Now about the spheres I gave you. They are called armor spheres, and they will protect you in the pipe for the most part, but that is because the armor will be ripped to shred by the water pressure and you sliding down the pipe. They will automatically trigger when your lives are endangered and it will encase you in a light-weight armor that will protect you. So if you are endangered before you get to the hole, it won't slow you down." He coughed again as a massive amount of blood this time came out. He leaned back against the wall looking up at the ceiling. "It's strange I never thought I would leave this way, protecting the two I so cruelly took from their friends against the rulers of Shadow Wind. Then again, I could not sit by anymore and listen to their twisted ways and their unfulfillable promises," he said before he laughed a bit. "I'm such a fool for believing them."

The sisters felt uncomfortable with the sight of Lucian coughing up lots of blood that Danielle had to shrink away a little. Kylie said, "Uh... thank you, mister! We gonna go now."

"Bye!" said Danielle before they left and followed on the 'man's' instructions. They got out through the hole of the broken window and ran through the streets.

It was now time for Ms. Linsen to go over with the students the words that they have practiced to say. All the dragons managed to perfect saying the words they have read. The teacher was quite pleased with this. After a few more lessons and homework given, the literacy class was over. Minerva said her goodbyes to Ms. Linsen and the students. The blonde was so joyed to see the dragons learning everything they need to know. She felt like a big helper to such wonderful creatures. After going outside the building, Minerva looked up to where her boyfriend would be at and said, "Ronan, Drake and I are finished with the class."

Ronan looked down to her. He smiled before he jumped down off the roof and landed with a roll. He walked up to her and asked curiously, "How'd it go? Do a lot of good?"

Minerva nodded and said, "Yes; it was fun helping everyone learn. Drake had an encounter with a dragonet who was messing with him. He got him back in line. So the dragonet paid didn't bother him anymore and just listened to the teacher from then on."

Ronan patted Drake's shoulder. "So, shall we go home?" said the assassin as he looked to his girlfriend with a smirk. Drake gave a yawn, he felt like taking a nap.

Minerva nodded and said, "Yes, that would be nice. I need to go fix dinner for later." Then she got onto Drake's back with Ronan climbing up behind her. The dragon spread his wings and jumped, taking off into the sky.

The assassin smirked and said, "You know. One of these days, we should go for a flight just for fun. Lots of tricks Drake and I can show you that would make your heart stop."

The young woman smiled with excitement; she would love to see that day and feel the thrill of it. It could be like riding a roller coaster or some other attraction. She replied, "That would be great! We should plan a day for that." Tomorrow, she had to go back to the city hall to take some more water magic lessons.

Drake flew them down when they arrived at the neighborhood. He landed gracefully outside Minerva's house. Ronan hopped off and helped his girlfriend down. The man smiled with a chuckle, "Quite a productive day I'd say. I think I'm beginning to adjust to city life."

Minerva giggled back and said, "It sounds like you're starting to feel at home here."

They walked into the house and Ronan asked her, "I'm going upstairs for a nap, wake me up when dinner's ready?"

Minerva nodded and said, "Okay, I will!" The woman went to the kitchen to plan out what to make tonight. She thought about the chicken in the freezer and decided that they should have chicken for dinner. She went over to the freezer and took out the bag of a whole chicken. She needed a way to defrost them, since the microwave was out of commission. So she went outside to the backyard to see Drake. She asked the dragon, "Excuse Drake, do you think your fire can defrost frozen meat in a bag without burning it?"

The dragon turned to her and said, "I'm afraid my fire is too hot for that, but I do have another approach." He brought his mouth near the bag. He inhaled slowly and then gave a gentle exhale, using a controlled, warm breath to defrost the bag.

Minerva felt Drake's really warm breath on the meat bag. The frost melted into water and meat felt soft to touch. The blonde was amazed at how the dragon's trick worked like magic. She should come to Drake from now on for whenever she needs food defrosted. "Thanks, Drake!" she said with a grateful smile.

With the chicken defrosted, Minerva went back to the kitchen and began to put sauce and seasoning on the chicken. With that done, she put it on the pan, which she then put in the oven to cook. It would take about an hour and 15 minutes for the chicken to cook, so in the meantime, Minerva went to the living room, where she picked out a novel from the bookshelf. She sat on the couch and began to read it.

Author's Note: While doing Minerva's section, I discovered that I had this story go far past than when one of her posts were supposed to be, so I edited Chapter 47 and put it at the end. So go see what it says. Also, Lucain's name seems to have been changed to Lucian, because Lucain was a spelling typo on LordDraco's part. I will go update the chapters with his name. Anyway, after I write the next chapter, I will have a poll related to this story and it will be put on a journal.

EDIT: I made a mistake with the last part of this chapter and decided to replace Minerva's conversation with Ronan with the ending of the Firestar sisters being drifted away in the city river. Minerva's ending will be moved to chapter 50.

EDIT 2: You know what? I think I liked the ending better with Minerva's conversation with Ronan. Now I can make the timeline fit with when each scene in the RP actually takes place, depending on how long it takes for them to happen.

EDIT 3: Now we're moving Minerva's other half of the section back to chapter 50, so that I can make room for Atlas and Aeolus's conversation.

A fact that might not be mentioned later
- The reason why Lucian punched the mirror is because when he saw the reflection of his face, he is looking right at the face of a battle-torn traitor, which would be himself. I think he's ashamed for all the bad things he's done until now.

Talmisa (c) lorddraco8967