Act 2, Chapter 7

Malefor stood on the platform on the Pit of the Fallen. Amouris stood at his right, grinning.

After much… sidetracking, Malefor was finally getting around to reviving the dragon he planned to make his newest minion. He had the perfect dragon in mind, but he didn't want to give their identity away just yet.

The Two Purple dragons stood watch as several Corrupted dragons flew down before them. The Corrupted dragons were carrying several large crates of Purple Gems.

"Be careful with those." Amouris commanded. "We need every Gem we can find for this ritual."

"Actually," Malefor replied. "I believe that I have more than enough."

"If you say so, Malefor."

Once all of the Gems were arranged in a pile before Malefor, the Purple male approached the great green light that erupted from the Pit of the Fallen.

"So, just who is this dragon you wish to make your minion?" Amouris asked him.

"He is someone from my past." Malefor answered. "He served his purpose fairly well when he was alive. He will no doubt serve under me and the rest of us with no complaints."

"Is that a fact?" A female voice asked.

A moment later, two dragons appeared in a cloud of Purple smoke at the Platform's entrance. It was Adpetis and Cyrus.

"What are you doing here?" Amouris demanded.

"Well, Cyrus has finished the assignment given to him." The White dragoness replied. "I found myself with free time, so I decided to come witness Malefor revive his new minion."

"Is that a fact?" Malefor asked, glancing back at her. "Why, pray tell, did you bring Cyrus along?"

"Is there a problem with having the Prince along?" Adpetis replied. "He's just a minion, just like your next one will be."

"Fair enough."

Malefor turned around and faced the Pit of the Fallen. He looked down into the crevice.

"How do I begin the revival ritual?" He asked Amouris.

"Well, if the dragon you wish to revive is related to you by blood," The Purple dragoness responded, "then you start by slicing a cut in part of your flesh, and combining your blood with a small amount of dark energy."

Malefor did as Amouris said, slicing a small cut on his arm, combining the spilled blood with Dark energy, and creating a small glowing red orb. The Purple dragon then dropped the orb into the Crevice.

"What now?" He asked.

"The orb of darkness you created is going to draw the spirit of the dragon you wish to revive to us."

"And then what?"

"When the dragon's spirit appears, that's when you begin using your magic to transform the Gems into pure energy, which is used to give the dragon a new body."

"Ah.."

Malefor stood before the Pile of Gems, waiting for the spirit of the dragon he was choosing to resurrect to appear before him. For a moment, it didn't appear. But then, a spirit, as black as midnight rose out of the Pit and hovered in the air before Malefor. The Great Purple dragon grinned.

"Greetings, boy."

Malefor proceeded to use his Convexity Energy to transform the Purple Gems into Pure energy.

As the Great Purple dragon set to work, Adpetis frowned in concern.

"Something's not right." She said. "Doesn't the ritual call for a combination of Red and Green Gems?"

"Ordinarily, yes." Amouris answered. "However, I have found that Fury Gems aren't just a perfect substitute: They're a superior choice of Gems."

"Why is that?"

"Fury Gems are far more potent than regular Gems. And since they can heighten a dragon's power, by using them as the base for a revived dragon's new body, that dragon's magic will be greatly augmented beyond the norm."

"Interesting." The White dragoness stated. "Any why is he using Convexity instead of individual elements?"

"Convexity is a combination of all twelve of the elements. Thus, it can be used as a substitute with no repercussions."

"Silence!" Malefor shouted. "Your banter is distracting me!"

"My apologies, Malefor." Amouris replied, bowing her head. Adpetis rolled her eyes.

Soon, Malefor was finished with the last parts of the revival ritual. As the spirit combined with the energy of the Gems, a great flash of Purple light filled the area.

When the light cleared, Malefor, Amouris and Adpetis looked down at the results.

Across the Platform, by the edge of the Pit, there lay a Black dragon.

The dragon had a similar appearance to Malefor, only much younger, somewhere in his early twenties. He had a Blood Red underbelly, and red wing membranes. He had the same set of horns that Malefor had, except they were silver. Silver spikes ran down his back, and his tail ended in a silver spear tip. And his eyes were completely yellow, with demonic irises, just like Malefor's.

Malefor stepped forwards, and called out to the black dragon.

"Arise, Zevron."

The Black dragon suddenly awoke, and stood up to face the Great Purple dragon. He seemed amazed to be standing there, but hid his astonishment behind a stoic expression almost immediately.

"Greetings… Father."

…

Rune sat in the darkness, feeling alone.

A short while ago, Runefor had forced himself onto Nellie once again, and allowed the Blue dragoness to see Rune again. However, as is usual, the White dragon prevented Rune and Nellie from embracing.

As the two young dragons stood on either side of the invisible barrier, they looked into each other's eyes. Even though Rune told Nellie to give up on him, she still persisted, wanting nothing more than to be with him. After a long while, Rune finally gave in, and admitted that he still wanted to be with Nellie.

Not that it mattered anymore: Runefor was dead set on preventing the two from even holding each other. No matter how much either Rune of Nellie tried, they couldn't break past the barrier between.

Give it a rest, you morons, Runefor taunted. You're not going to reach each other. Not NOW, and not EVER.

"Why are you doing this?" Nellie demanded. "Why won't you let us get close to each other?"

Oh, no reason, really. It's just fun torturing you two.

"No reason?" The Blue dragoness stammered. "Why you…you…"

Oh, Shut up! You should be thankful I let you see Rune at all, Nellie!

"But-!"

Alright, THAT'S ENOUGH!

Suddenly, Nellie was pulled backwards by an unseen force, away from Rune.

"Nellie!" The Black dragon shouted, trying to break through the barrier.

"Rune!" The dragoness shouted, trying to fight back.

Oh, Give it a rest! Runefor yelled. Both of you!

Soon, Nellie was out of the abyss, leaving Rune by himself.

The Black dragon stepped back, tears running down his face.

"Nellie…"

Rune sat down on his haunches and proceeded to cry.

Are you actually CRYING? Runefor asked. Are you seriously THAT much of a Pussy?

"Leave me alone.." Rune demanded.

Aww, do you wish to get up close to you sweet little Nellie, Rune? Do you want to push her down onto her back and fuck her?

"Shut up!" The Black dragon yelled. His White-hided other laughed.

It must really suck to have such a raging sex drive and be unable to stick yourself into your girlfriend. Luckily, I'M able to fuck Nellie whenever I want.

"Stop saying those things about Nellie!'

Since we're the same person, in a way, you ARE having sex with Nellie, so there's nothing to be sad about.

Rune got on all fours, snarling.

"SHUT UP!" He bellowed. "Stop going on about those things! You've already taken over my body! You're able to molest Nellie whenever you want! And you've destroyed massive parts of the world! Why do you keep rubbing it in my face? What could you possibly gain from it? And WHY WON'T YOU LET ME BE WITH NELLIE?"

For a moment, Runefor was silent. But then, he laughed.

Well, well well! He chided. It seems you've manned up some! When did THAT happen? After all, normally you just sit on the floor and feel sorry for yourself, what with being a coward an all.

"Shut up."

You've always been that way, ever since we were a little cub. In fact, you were that way even before we hatched.

Rune looked upwards, glaring.

"You didn't exist back then!"

Really? You're trying to deny my existence AGAIN? Idiot.

Rune stayed silent for a while.

In any case, you wouldn't remember the day we hatched anyway. But I do.

"You do?" Rune asked. "How?"

Over the years, when we were one being, whenever you forgot about something, the memories traveled into me. Most of them are pretty boring, really.

"Then why bring it up?"

I was answering your question. Don't blame ME for talking about something forgettable when you asked to hear about it.

"Fine…"

Rune sat back down on the ground, sighing.

Since we're on the subject, perhaps I can show you what happened that day.

"Why should I care?"

You aren't the least bit curious as to whether or not you were alone all these years, or if you had ME along for the ride?

The Black dragon sighed again.

"Go ahead: Show me."

As you wish, Rune!

As the Black dragon sat on the ground, he thought to himself. Runefor began filling his mind with memories.

Memories of the day he hatched.

…

Darkness. Absolute darkness, on all sides.

The little creature was lost in an endless void of complete and total nothingness. For the longest time, it was not aware of itself. It couldn't move, or see, or speak, or even think. It was locked in a continuous slumber…

And then, at some point in time, the creature suddenly gained consciousness. All of a sudden, the small creature's mind awoke, and it began to think. At first, the creature's thoughts were incoherent and fragmented. But then, over time, it started connecting its thoughts together, until it achieved coherence. And the very first thing it thought was:

What am I?

The creature slowly began to discover that it had a definite shape: A body, with seven limbs attached to it. Five of these limbs were longer, most of them having something hard on the end. The other two limbs were much flatter, and crumpled up. The creature also had a head, which was almost bigger than its body. It had two small bumps on the top its head, and a layer of something soft allover it.

The creature found that it was curled up tightly. When it tried to uncurl itself, it found that it was surrounded by a thick wall, which completely encased it. The creature, curious as to what this was, used its limbs with the hard somethings to push against the wall.

What is this? it wondered.

As the creature investigated this strange wall, it came to discover that its head had two large round things on its head. The creature opened these round things, and saw nothing but the darkness. However, it could still feel its body as it moved about.

The creature discovered something else: Sound.

Somewhere, on the other side of the wall, it could hear many giant somethings talking to each other. However, the creature couldn't understand what they were saying.

What are those? it wondered.

The creature placed its hard somethings against the wall around it again. It began to feel something inside it: emotion.

The creature was not satisfied being trapped inside this wall anymore.

I want out.

The creature began banging against the wall, trying to break through, with no success. It tried harder, getting angry.

I want out! Let me out!

The creature tried and tried, but couldn't make the wall move. As it started to get frustrated, something unexpected happened: Something spoke to the creature's mind.

It's not time yet, little one.

The little creature looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

Who are you? it asked.

I am someone you'll meet when the time is right, the voice answered. But that time is not for a while: Be patient, little one.

But I want out! The creature complained. This place is too small.

You will leave your egg when the time comes.

Egg? What is an egg?

The creature waited for a response, but none came.

Come back! it yelled in its mind. Why won't you let me out?

Still no response.

The creature banged on the walls of its "egg", trying as hard as it could to break free.

I WANT OOOUUUT!

Eventually, the creature got tired, and stopped banging on the walls. It then curled back up, frustrated.

Fine, I'll wait, it thought, defeated.

The creature waited for a long time. As it did so, its desire to break free grew stronger and stronger. There seemed to be a whole world outside its small container, and it wanted more than anything to see it.

What's out there? What will I find? Oh, if only I could get out.

As time marched on, the creature noticed something frightening: The walls around it were shrinking. Little by little, it was getting smaller. Soon, instead of moving about freely, the creature was forced to keep its limbs closer and closer together.

What's happening? it wondered, worried. WHY is it happening?

Once the walls had gotten too small for it to stand, the creature started pushing against them again.

Let me OUT!

The creature pushed as hard as it could in the little space that was left.

Suddenly, it heard a loud sound, as if something was breaking apart.

Huh?

The creature pushed some more, and more sounds were created.

What's that sound?

As it continued to push, the part of the wall it was pushing started to break away. Soon, the creature's round things were met with a great blast of a something it hadn't encountered before: Light.

The creature shielded itself from the light, keeping it out of its round things.

What is this? Make it go away!

Soon, the creature found that it wasn't bothered by the light anymore, and it looked up.

A small hole was made in the walls of the egg. There was something beyond the whole, but the creature didn't know what it was. And it didn't care, either.

A way out! it thought, smiling excitedly. I can get out now!

The creature proceeded to tear away at the wall of the egg, eager to escape its tiny prison. But, as it was making the hole bigger, it saw something that made it nearly jump.

The creature was in the middle if an enormous, stone chamger. A giant, Grey, something was lying next to the egg, looking down at the tiny creature. There was another giant something standing on the other side of the egg, this one being Black.

The tiny creature looked up at the big Grey something, not sure what to make of it.

What is that?

As the creature looked at the Giant, a several soft noises came out of it. It sounded happy.

"It's alright, little one." The Giant said, pulling the sides of its lower face back. "Come on out."

Still a little uneasy, the little creature climbed up out of the hole it made in the egg and toppled onto the floor. Immediately, the massive increase in light, as well as the hardness and coldness of the ground, made the creature unhappy. Water started to form in its round things, and it started letting out a low, unhappy sound.

"Oh dear." The Grey Giant said. It reached down and picked the creature up, and held it close.

"It's alright, little one." It said soothingly. "You're not hurt. There's no need to cry."

The Black Giant started making happy noises. These noises seemed to make the Grey Giant upset.

"Bane!" It yelled. "Why are you laughing at him?"

"I'm only laughing because of how adorable he is." The other Giant replied. "I couldn't help it, what with the way he just fell over like that."

"I suppose you're right."

As the two Giants were making talking to each other, the little creature stopped crying and looked up at the Grey one. It held the smaller creature up close to its chest, and kept it wrapped up snugly in its front limbs. The creature felt…. safe.

"Feeling better, little one?" The Grey Giant asked it. The creature tried to respond, but only an incoherent noise came out. The Giant made soft happy noises again.

"Well, I'll set you down now." it said. The Giant gently placed the little creature back on the ground, next to an egg. At first, the creature thought that it was the egg it had just escaped from, but then noticed that it was a completely different egg. And several breaking noises were starting to come out of it.

"Here comes your brother, little one." The Black Giant said.

Brother?

A moment later, a tiny black something broke free of its egg, and crawled out onto the floor. Unlike the creature, it didn't cry.

The Black something looked a lot like the two Giants, except much shorter, closer to the creature's size and shape. It had four small bumps on its head instead of two, and had a magenta streak going across its belly.

The Black something and the creature walked up to each other, and started looking each other over. Both of them were curious as to who this other creature was.

"It seems our sons have finally met, Elenar." The Black Giant said.

"So it does." The Grey Giant agreed.

After this, the Black something looked up at the Black Giant, and immediately squeaked in surprise. It turned to run away, only to jump at the sight of the Grey Giant. It then ran next to the little creature and tried to hide behind it. The creature looked at its "brother", curious.

Why is it acting like that?

The two Giants made soft happy noises. The Black Giant reached down and scooped the creature's brother gently up into its front limbs.

"There's no need to be scare, little one." it said, pulling its lower face back like the Grey Giant did. The little Black something shivered slightly.

"Here, I'll hand you over to your Momma."

The creature watched as the Black Giant passed the tiny Black something over to the Grey Giant, who wrapped it up snugly against the Giant's chest. The creature then turned back to look up curiously at the Black Giant.

"Do you want to be held again, little one?" It asked the creature.

The creature, feeling safe in the Giant's presence, waked up to it, climbing into its front limbs.

For a time, the Black Giant held the creature snugly, while the Grey one held the Black something close.

"So, what should we name our children, Elenar?" The Black Giant asked, sitting closer to the other Giant.

"Well, I think I'll name this little one Cyrus." The Grey Giant said, cradling the Black something.

"Cyrus, eh? That's a wonderful name." The Black Giant said. It handed the creature over to the other Giant. "So, what about him?"

The Grey Giant sat in thought as she held both the creature and its "brother" in its front limbs.

"Hmmm, well, I've got an idea for a name, but you might not agree with it."

"What makes you think that, Elenar?"

"I want to name him… Rune."

"Rune?" The Black Giant asked, somewhat confused. "After Runileon, your grandfather?"

"Yes."

"What would cause you to decide to do that?"

The Grey Giant started talking seriously.

"I do not believe in Runileon's curse. Everyone else may believe that Runileon will one day have a successor who's a far worse White dragon than He ever was, but I don't. Being a White dragon doesn't automatically mean that a dragon is evil. And, since this little one is a Black dragon, the most contradicting breed of dragon imaginable, I hereby name this little dragon Rune. This dragon is Runileon's successor. And he will grow up to keep order in the dragon race, just as every Black dragon who's come before him has done so for these past five hundred years."

The Creature didn't understand most of what the Grey Giant said. However, one word rang in its head.

Dragon? Is that what I am?

The little creature… no, little dragon looked around at the others.

Are THEY all dragons too?

The Giant Black dragon made happy noises again.

"You're not very good at speeches." He said.

"Gee, thank you, Bane." The other Giant dragon replied, sounding unhappy.

"Sorry, love. And hey, if you want to name our other son Rune, then I support you completely."

"Thank you, Bane."

The Giant Grey dragon looked down at the two little dragons. She pulled her lower face back again.

"Did you hear, little ones?" She asked. "From this moment on, your name is Rune, and your name is Cyrus."

The little dragon stood in thought again.

Rune….my name is Rune.

Both this little dragon and its brother looked up at the Giant Grey one.

"I am your mother, my little ones." It said. The Giant then turned the little dragons towards the Black one. "And that is your Father."

The Giant Black dragon got close and picked the two little dragons up in its front limbs.

"You two won't understand this right away," it said, "But both of you are Black dragons, the greatest breed of all. Someday, you're going to be rulers of an entire nation. You're royalty, little ones."

The two little dragons just looked up at the Giant Black one. He made soft happy noises again.

"You'll understand when you're older."

So there it went. The little creature learned that its name was Rune, and was a dragon. His earlier life was much simpler than what it would become.

No one would have guessed that this sweet little hatchling would grow up to become the very thing his mother denied: The product of a curse. No one realized what a danger he was to the dragon race.

None could have known that Rune would one day become Runefor.