Fall of the East

by Exodus9

Co-written by three authors, Exodus9, Talon the Dragon, and Kauzul. Fall of the East follows the story of the last Eastern Dragons who are trying to find their way in the world, which wants them all dead. Along the way they meet new friends and enemies, and their journey will one day take them to face Alto, the destroyer of Aeon and, if he has his way, the world.

5. Chapter 5

Fall of the East: Chapter 5

Reya rushed through the city streets, skidding to a halt in front of the healers home, out of breath and exhausted from the run. "Sheska! Sheska, where is he?" she gasped as the young Fire Dragoness stumbled into the healers home. The elderly healer looked up from her cracked and dusty tombs and pointed a frail claw towards a sheet that obscured Crow from view. The old Anthro Wolf pressed a finger to her lips before rising from her cushion. "Why have you come, I told you that he would need several days of treatment before he would be able to wake up." she said quietly, her voice brittle and cracked with age, but Reya shook her head frantically. "Something is terribly wrong, a crazed dragon is attacking the city right now, tearing through the guards and demanding to know where Crow is! I saw him myself...he looked, almost possessed. I think he might be one of the dragons that attacked Crow's village!" she whispered, pulling back the curtain to reveal Crow's sleeping form.

The wound on his shoulder had been bandaged, but dark spots marked the amount of blood that was still seeping from the cuts she had made. With a quavering intake of breath, she looked desperately over towards the old healer. "Is there anywhere you could hide him? I...I'll give you this if you'll help me." she said and held out a few more coins, the last she had. The Wolf quickly grabbed the money out of the young dragons paws and inspected it carefully before tucking it away in a small bag that hung around her waist. "Very well, we can hide him below, in my storage room." she said and with a grunt pulled up a trapdoor that had been hidden under a carpet. Outside, screams and shouts could be heard growing ever closer, and Sheska gestured with her paw for Reya to take Crow downstairs. Carefully picking up the young Fear Dragon, Reya managed to drag him down into the musty cellar below. "It's best if you stay down their with him, I'll keep watch from above." said Sheska quietly before shutting the trapdoor and covering it with the carpet once more. Beneath the floorboards, Reya quickly lit a small flame so that she could see and lay Crow down onto the damp floor. His face seemed troubled, as if he was having some sort of nightmare, and Reya laid a paw gently on his forehead. "It's going to be okay, Crow." she whispered, and put out the light.

Rem padded his way through the streets of the city. The guard was very descriptive of where the young dragon was being held. Anyone who opposed the vengeance filled dragon soon found out his power and quickly fell before him. Spotting the sign for the healer's den, Rem barged inside to see the old wolf standing with a shocked expression. With his teeth bared, Rem stepped forward. "Where is he?" asked the raged dragon in his distorted voice. "And do not lie to me, old wolf. I am not afraid to go through you as well to get to my friend who I see as a brother!" he roared, causing the old wolf to stumble back and slip on the carpet, revealing the trap door. Smiling, the out of control dragon blasted away the door and jumped down. His white wisps lit up the musky storage room. As he spotted the two on the far side, the old wolf jumped down and drove a sword into the dragon's back. Snarling, Rem ripped the sword out and tossed it back at the old wolf, skewering him. Turning back to Reya and Crow, Rem's eyes grew bright. "Get away from my friend."

As the trapdoor was blasted apart, Reya screamed and shielded Crow with her wings while she hid her head behind her paws, peering up, she saw as the crazed dragon leered down towards them, white wisps of energy swirling around him as his eyes glowed, and it took all of strength not to simply faint in sheer horror. Her eyes widened as she saw the healer swing her sword towards the attacker "Sheska! No!" Reya cried out, but it was too late, the crazed dragon impaled the old healer, killing her instantly. The young fire dragons eyes welled with tears, but they quickly disappeared as the attacker rounded on them, his eyes burning with rage. "Get away from my friend" snarled the creature, and Reya blinked in surprise. "You're Rem?" she gasped quietly, and looked from Crow back to him "What do you want with him? I won't let you hurt Crow!" she said warningly, but knew very well that she didn't stand a chance against him. She placed a paw on Crows shoulder and held him firmly, one wing spread over him slightly in a protective manner.

Rem's white glow seemed to fade slightly at the younger female's words. "Hurt...Crow?" he said in a confused tone. "I... I would never hurt my closest friend." he said, Looking around, he saw the dead healer on the wall and his glowing eyes grew wide. "I... I never wanted any of this to happen..." said the male as he wisps grew less bright and soon fluttered out. Walking over to the unconscious fear dragon, tears fell from his eyes, which were still glowing white. Phobius rushed in a few moments later, but sighed as he saw that Rem was mostly under control, sobbing on the young dragon's body.

The Fear Guardian gazed around in shock and horror as he saw the bodies strewn across the streets. Guards were working frantically to put out the fires that had spread throughout the city, and tend to the countless wounded that lay dying in the streets. Flying as fast as he possibly could, he eventually made it to the healers, and burst inside, expecting the worst. It was almost that, but not quite. Rem was crying quietly near Crow's unconscious form, while the young fire dragoness from earlier that day stared in fear from him to the guardian. Phobius's eyes widened as he saw the impaled form of the healer...her name had been Sheska, if he remembered correctly, but now her corpse bleed out over the floorboards. With a shuddering breath, Phobius strode forward and lay a hand on Rems shoulder. "We must leave, now. Once the guards re-assemble they'll come here, looking for you. We've got to take Crow with us as well." he said and made to pick up the unconscious form of Crow. Seeing the young fear dragon again pained him greatly, for Phobius had never been given the chance to apologise for what he did. However, as he reached towards him, the fire dragoness stepped in front of him.

"Wait; let me come with you, please. I've got to make sure he's okay." she insisted, a mistrusting look in her eyes as she glanced from the guardian back to Rem, who was still crying quietly over Crows body. Phobius sighed in frustration and nodded. "Fine, but we have to leave now." he said and picked up Crow, before heading towards the exit. Reya was quick to follow after him, and once they were out on the streets she motioned to the group. "Follow me, I can get us out of the city unnoticed!" she whispered and darted into an alleyway. Phobius frowned slightly but quickly followed suite as a large group of armoured guards rounded the corner. Once in the alleyway, he noticed that the young fire dragoness had been joined by two Anthro-wolves, who glared suspiciously at Phobius, but Reya layed a hand on both their shoulders. "It's okay, he's going to take us somewhere safe, where Crow can heal." she said and after a moment's hesitation, they nodded together. "Wait a second, I never said-!" muttered Phobius indignantly but Reya and the wolves had already shot into another alleyway, and Phobius had to rush to catch up with them, not to mention glance over his shoulder to make sure Rem was still with him. What had happened tonight had caused the Guardian to worry greatly about the fire dragon, what hidden power did he truly possess? Soon enough, the group made it to the city wall, and Reya showed them a narrow passage that Phobius could just barely manage to slip through. Once outside, Reya gave the all clear and the dragons took off into the sky while the wolves followed them from the ground, until at last they reached the estate.

Rem did not enter the guardian's estate however when they returned. Instead, he flew up to his private perch and sat looking over the valley. The images of the burning and panicked city replayed through his mind from when he looked back as they left. Had it really been him that caused so much grief? Had HE caused all that damaged and ruined so many lives of innocent dragons and other species? The thoughts plagued the male's mind and even the thought of diving into the ground crossed his mind once or twice, but he quickly shooed the thought away. With his head resting on the rock and his right legs and tail hanging off the triangle shaped perch. Rem let out a sigh and watched Phobius work on Crow from the glass.

Reya watched from across the room as the Guardian started re-bandaging some of Crow's wounds that had opened up during the move to the estate, his brow was furrowed with worry and Reya could tell that Crow was still in a lot of danger. With a low growl she looked up towards where Rem was outside, her eyes narrowed. If he had never shown up, Crow would have been alright, and now look at what happened! An entire section of the city had been destroyed, and he didn't even look much older than she was! With a sigh, Reya sat down and leaned against the wall of the room, while Ty stayed with her, his arms crossed and his eyes staring blankly into space. Lee, on the other hand, had inched towards Phobius and was no standing right beside him. The Guardian said nothing for a moment and pursed his lips and looked down at the wolf "It would be a lot easier to work if I had some space!" he muttered and Lee quickly walked over to the other side of the table, but didn't move away. The guardian sighed and waved a paw "Fine, that will have to do." he said and reached towards the bloody bandages that covered Crows shoulder. But as he did so, Crow winced and groaned, and his eyes fluttered open.

Phobius quickly backed away and motioned for Reya and Ty to approach, and they obliged without hesitation. "Crow? Are you alright?" asked Reya softly and the twins waved at him from the end of the table. The young Fear Dragon smiled slightly at the sight of his friends and tried to get up, but gasped in pain and fell back. "What...what happened? He said, looking around in confusion." "Well...it's sorta hard to explain..." said Reya cautiously, but suddenly Phobius strode forward. Crow's eyes widened in shock and the others glanced nervously from him to the guardian. "I thought it best that you awoke surrounded by your friends, Crow." he said calmly. "You were injured three days ago when you used your fear element, and while you were being healed in the city...well, Rem found out about your condition and went to find you, but...he...-" "He destroyed half the city trying." finished Reya, closing her eyes for a second as she remembered the chaos that had been caused by Rem's rampage. "After that, neither of you would be safe anywhere within Warfang's walls, so when Phobius offered to bring you here, we had to." added Reya, opening her eyes again. Crow was silent for a while but then nodded slightly, and Phobius smiled in relief. He had been very concerned that the young dragon would over-react and hurt himself even more. "It's alright, Rem explained to me what happened, Phobius...about...before." he said, but winced as he spoke, his throat felt like it was coated in sand, and a searing pain shot through his shoulder. He froze for a second, his shoulder? Slowly, he turned his head to look to his left, and there, a blood soaked bandage covered the entire area. Almost frantically, he started pulling at the cloth, ripping it away. Reya and Phobius tried to stop him, but not before the last of the material fell away to reveal the wound.

His Eastern Mark had been carved away, replaced by a gruesome wound that spread over most of his shoulder. Blood and ripped flesh seemed to mix together in a mess and Crow almost threw up just looking at it. With a slight cry he looked away in disgust and anger. "How did this happen?" he said quietly, clutching the cloth tightly in his hand. "You received it in the fight, Crow. You came back with that wound." said Reya instantly, while the twins and Phobius exchanged uneasy glances. Crow stared resolutely at the celling, his pale white eyes glaring into space. He knew they were lying, someone had done this to him after he had lost consciousness. Because, you see, Crow remembered everything from that night, he had felt the power rushing in his veins, and he had enjoyed it.

The Temple of Alto

Alto heard a magical crackle behind him. He recognized the sound and turned around to see the silhouette of a slim figure of a dragoness in the shadows of his chamber.

"Korasi. Nice to see you back" Alto said while he turned around.

Korasi was his best student, prodigy to be more accurate, She never had failed him and was a fast learner and excellent in physical and magical combat.

"I've returned from my reconnaissance, Master." She replied. Her voice was very soothing but a slight, yet still noticeable, feminine rasp in her tone was audible.

She emerged from the shadows of the room to reveal her appearance to Alto once more. She was a black scaled dragon, with a line of white coming from the base of her head which extended across her body and onto the end of her tail. Her wings membranes were a velvety red which matched the color of her slit eyes. What made her unique was a symbol tattooed onto her right shoulder, The Symbol of the Eastern Dragons.

"What have you found out?" Alto asked as soon as soon as her body was fully visible.

"Turns out the two HVT's you have been looking for have been inhabiting the city of Warfang as you predicted." Korasi reported as she took off a pair of smithed claws.

The claws were another feature that made Korasi unique.

Alto had taught her strict Close Quarters Combat attacks and techniques since the beginning of her combat sessions but never found one set of claws enough. Surprised from her young thirst for more power, he personally forged a pair of claws using the sturdiest and most geometrical combined metals to create a devastating weapon; and with honor he presented Korasi with his forge-work.

Korasi dismissed the magical binding on the claws that secured their position on her wrist to prevent it falling off, while the magical binding let her move her wrists freely without something, such as leather, restricting that privilege.

"Good, what have you found out about them?" Alto asked her.

"There seems to be a conflict between the two, not to mention they seem to be causing dismay within the city with the simple fact of their origin." Korasi said, and placed her 'Korasi Claws' in a chest nearby that disappeared as she closed the heavy, wooden lid. Direct Tunneling Chests were one of the most convenient inventions Alto has created. Using the Abyssal realms of which he came from, he was able to transport any type of object through a specifically enchanted storage unit to another of the same aspect assuming the user is careful and remembers to set a destination point.

"Excellent!" Alto exclaims though refrains from becoming too loud, though his enthusiasm seemed to be a little forced anyways.

"We can let them slowly weaken one another, then we can assault the dragon 'Rem' for his mystical ability. Korasi, begin to find the weakness in Rem and that other dragon who followed him to the city."

"Permission to ask a question?" Korasi requested.

"Permission Granted."

"Why should we concern ourselves with the other dragon, he is not of our - your highest priority."

"Never under-estimate the enemy Korasi, they might contain hidden traits and will assist our endeavour, even if they don't know it." It irked Alto that Korasi would ask such an unassuming question, but it was understandable, the young dragoness would never usually ask questions unless it was necessary, and normally, Korasi was very careful about the questions she asked him. After all, he had 'saved' her after the fall of the Eastern lands. She was from the wealthiest dynasty, or families. Her manners were fair and her loyalty could not be out-matched, and that is why Alto could not scold Korasi, as he often did with his other failed students and subjects. He would respect her alone as long as she is respectful and loyal to him.

"Rest Korasi, I will assign a task to you soon. And don't forget to recharge the electricity in your pair of Claws." Alto told her "You might need it."

"Thank you, Master" Korasi responded "I will not forget" And she slunk back into the shadows.

Warfang

Rem only returned the estate to bandage his injured leg after he realized in his darker side had burnt it clean off. This is also when he first realized the stab wound in his back and wrapped a few bandages to cover the wound. When he finished, he snuck back out of the estate and flew back up to his perch. As the sun entered the valley, the orange sun reflected off of his deep black scales, but also revealed the great contrast between the white bandages and his black scales. Sighing at the sun warmed his body; the fire dragon looked down towards the estate, debating whether or not to head down. Shaking his head to the idea for the moment, Rem flew out into the valley and swiftly lifted a buck into the air, snapping its neck in his powerful jaws before sitting down for his morning meal. After he finished, the male burnt the remains so that not predators would be drawn to the scent of the dead animal. Spreading his large wings, he rode the warm air currents up to his perch, digging his talons on all four legs into the rock to catch himself before allowing all four legs and his wings to dangle off the edge of the triangle shaped rock outcropping and his head to sit on the tip. Closing his eyes, the male teenaged fire dragon closed his eyes and relaxed, the warm sun aiding in his own way of recovering from his physical and mental injuries.

As the sun rose in the distance, Phobius finally finished tending to Crows wounds and made for the door. "You're leaving?" asked Reya in confusion, Crow was far from healed, he still needed medical attention! Phobius paused at the door as he collected a few of his things. "Crow will be fine until I return later this afternoon. While looking after Rem in my spare time, I also have the duties of the Guardian, and if I do not attend the Academy, the other Guardians will become more suspicious than they already am. I told them that I only took Rem's body to give him a proper burial, and it took a full month to convince them that I wasn't lying. Now, after last night's fiasco, their suspicion will be targeted directly on me. If I wish not to lead them back here straight to Rem and Crow, I must continue my duties as a Guardian as if nothing had happened." he explained calmly and left before Reya could protest any further. It pained him to leave Crow in such a state, and he knew that Rem was suffering from something worse than wounds, but they would just have to wait for him to return. Over the past four months, he had come to care about the eastern fire dragon more than he would care to admit, and wasn't about to let his emotions jeopardize Rem and Crow just because he wanted to stay behind. With a sigh, he spread his wings and flew into the City.

On his way to the academy, in the full light of day, Phobius could see the full extent of Rem's antics from last night. Much of the fire had been doused, but the damage was extensive, leading all the way from the main city gate and ending on the healers street, near the edge. The building still smouldered, a faint trial of smoke weaving its way through the air as a signal to all of what had transpired. When he touched down in the Academy, the entire building seemed to be buzzing with gossip about the demonic creature that had caused the damage last night, and Phobius tried to keep his expressions from betraying his thoughts. After entering the main hall, he walked slowly towards his place with his head down, in hopes of avoiding notice, but to no avail. "PHOBIUS!" shouted Infurnus, his red eyes burning as he marched straight over towards the Fear Guardian, whilst Reuel waited patiently behind him, his cold, calculating eyes boring into him. The Fear Guardian's eyes widened in surprise, but he said nothing, and waited for Infurnus to continue, which the Fire Guardian did, spit flying from his mouth as he snarled "Where in the nine rings of Hell were you last night? It was a disaster, some demon caused massive amounts of damage in the southern side of the city, it took almost all of the Guardians to help with damage control!" Phobius mentally sighed in relief that they had not made the connection between Rem and last night's incident before relaying his cover story "I'm sorry, I heard about the attack only this morning when I arrived, I had gone back to my estate long before this "demon" appeared." he said smoothly.

Infurnus glared at him before marching away, muttering darkly. Reuel, however, stepped forward. Ever since Phobius had unleashed his fear attack, leaving the Air Guardian deaf in one year, the two had been on rather icy footing. "I think it rather strange, that this attack should occur so soon after your second little Easterling was spotted just days ago, Phobius. One might even start to believe there was some sort of connection between the two!" he said silkily, his pale eyes twinkling with conspiracy. "I don't know what you're talking about, Reuel." muttered Phobius and he pushed past him, walking towards his section where a few of his students waited for him. However Reuel wasn't swayed. "I do my homework too, Phobius. One of the Guards told me that the Demon asked specifically for the location of a healers, so I decided to visit this place myself." he said quietly, and Phobius tried very hard not to react, and simply started flicking through one of his books. "Well, as you can imagine the place was in ruins, the healer was also dead. Some sort of magic had been used on her to help heal the old Wolf, but at her age? She had a heart attack and died almost immediately! So that was a dead end." drawled Reuel, a slight smile appearing on his face as he realized Phobius wasn't actually reading and hanging onto his every word. "But I wasn't swayed. I went to ask some of the neighbouring citizens who lived around the healer what they could tell me, and do you know what I found out?" he said, his voice dead quiet. "One of them told me...that a young, black scaled dragon had been admitted there the day after the Easterling was discovered." he whispered, and Phobius shut the book his was reading and looked up at the Air Guardian. "Now…why would the Demon, be so interested in taking this young Eastern Dragon with him? Because he wasn't there when I arrived, and from what those citizens told me, he was in no fit condition to just get up and walk away. You know what I think? I think, that the Eastern Dragon we executed last year didn't die. In fact, I think that he was in this very city mere hours ago. And I also think that you helped both of the Easterlings escape last night. Do you know why?" he asked, his voice dripping with malice. "Why." said Phobius, his voice just as deadly as Reuel's. The Air Dragon leaned closer towards him, so that their faces were just inches from one another. "Because that same citizen that told me all those things...also saw you, helping the Demon and his friend, escape."

Phobius glared at Reuel for a split second before he chuckled and closed the book he had been reading. "Really, Reuel, I knew that you were paranoid about the Easterlings, but to go so far as to accuse me of aiding this...creature that attacked our beloved city? You go too far. You shouldn't trust everything you hear, my friend." said the Fear dragon evenly before he began walking over towards his area of study. Reuel glared after him, rage plain in his eyes. "This isn't over, Phobius, as soon as I tell the others-" "Tell them what?" Phobius interrupted "that some citizen told you that he saw me helping this attacker? Everyone knows that you hate me, they won't believe you, and for good reason, because it isn't true." Reuel stared after him, mouth gaping open as he tried to come up with some sort of witty response and Phobius grinned "Silver tongue turned to lead? Well, if you are done patronizing me, I'll get back to teaching." he said and turned away from the Air Dragon, who stormed out of the room in a rage shortly after.

As soon as he was out of the main hallway, Reuel was suddenly grabbed and pulled into a spare room. "Hey! What in -" he was cut off as Infurnus roughly placed a paw over his mouth "Will you shut it?" he snapped, letting him go and turning to face the other guardians that had gathered there. "What is going on...and why are we in a broom closet?"

"It's not a broom closet!" hissed Infurnus as he shoved a mop out of the way to make room for the Air Guardian. "Look, we all want to know if you were able to glean anything off of Phobius." he continued as Reuel laughed quietly before speaking. "He won't budge in his story that he was at his estate when this happened, but my sources placed him at the scene of the crime the night it occurred. I think that the Demon who attacked our city was none other than that Easterling we tried to execute four months ago."

"Don't be ridiculous, Reuel, he was shot dead with the Executioners crossbow! No criminal has ever survived it!" scoffed another, but Reuel shook his head,

"Phobius took him away before we could check to make sure he was dead. He must have been nursing him back to health until now." The rest were quiet as they mulled over this news, until Infernus finally spoke.

"If he really did help the Eastern dragon recover, and then aid him in escaping with that Easterling child...Phobius should pay for his crimes against this city. The other Guardians were able to overlook his dealings with the Easterlings before, but what transpired last night was unforgivable. We must destroy those Eastern Dragons once and for all, along with their Guardian." he said quietly, and the group nodded uneasily. "Arresting a Guardian will not be easy, not to mention we don't know where he is hiding the Eastern Dragons." said another, but Reuel held up a paw "Don't worry about that, the only place he could possibly hide them is on his estate, and that is where we will strike. It is out of the city, far away from prying eyes. We will take them all by surprise and have them brought to justice, neither the Earth or Ice Guardian will be able to intervene in the light of their sins this time." he said with a hiss, and the others smiled wickedly. Infurnus stumbled over a bucket as he reached for the door "We will talk more of this later, for now, act as if nothing has changed." he muttered and left, while the others filed out behind him and went about their usual tasks.

The Estate

"Reya...Reya? Ty, Lee?" called out Crow as he woke to find himself in an empty room. The walls were a deep red and the floorboards were worn with age as he got up from his head and walked over to the door that led out to the main hallway. As he approached it, he winced and held onto his shoulder, just before the door flung open and both Reya and the Twins tumbled inside. "I told you it opened the other way you idiots!" laughed Reya as she picked herself off the ground. "Crow! You're awake!" she said in surprise, as the young Fear Dragon blinked in confusion. The Fire Dragoness smiled in relief and helped Ty to his feet; Lee was already dusting himself off, a sour expression on his face.

"Phobius said that you were still pretty hurt, you should probably lie back down, we were just looking around, this place is huge! It has lots of rooms and stuff..." she trailed off as she noticed Crows expression, which had gone from mildly amused to depressed. "Crow? Is everything alright?" she asked gently as the Fear Dragon sat down on the bed again. He sighed and placed his hand on his shoulder once more. "My shoulder...it hasn't healed yet. My mark of the Eastern Country is gone forever. I didn't think that I cared about it that much, but it was part of who I am...and now it's gone." he added, his voice slightly hoarse, and Reya looked to the twins with concern before she sat beside him. "It's still pretty early, Crow, it might heal again one day." Reya said encouragingly, but Crow shook his head. "You saw how deep that wound was, it will scar for life" he said bitterly, and the room fell into a morbid silence for a few seconds before Lee walked forward and held out his paw, his eyes looking at Crow with meaning and the young dragon sighed and let the wolf help him to his feet, before following him out the door.

Ty and Reya got to their feet and rushed after the two of them "Lee! What are you doing, you know that Crow isn't supposed to be out of bed!" she insisted, but Lee looked back at her shrugged, while Crow smiled slightly and walked beside his wolven friend, following him outside. The air was cool and crisp, anything but the air that they had lived with in the slums of the city, and Crow laughed as he tumbled through the thick grass that grew throughout that field that surrounded the estate. Seeing how much his spirit had soared just by getting out of that jail of a room, Reya nodded in thanks towards Lee before rushing towards him and sending him flying a couple of feet. The wolf howled and Ty quickly jumped into the fray, landing squarely on Reya's back and trying to pin her while Lee rushed back to help his twin. Crow laughed as the three scuffled over the field, sending dust flying everywhere, and lay down in the grass, gazing up at the clouds as they soared high above him, their colours of white and gold as the sun began to sink. Things seemed peaceful here, despite the odd howl and roar from the three as they continued to fight nearby.

Suddenly, the wind seemed to pick up and Crow looked over to see Phobius approaching, his giant wings beating heavily against the air. Reya finally shouted out in triumph as she pinned both of the twins down, but quickly let them up as she spotted the Guardian, and the three walked over to where Crow was. Just meters away, Phobius touched down in front of them, his face in a frown. "What is he doing out of bed, don't you realize what a serious condition you are still in?" he asked, his voice full of concern. "I'm sorry Sir, he wasn't really doing much, just getting some fresh air..." said Reya quietly but Phobius cut her off "Not another word, get inside now, Crow." he said seriously and gestured towards the estate. Crow didn't meet his gaze and slunk slowly back into the house, holding onto his shoulder as he made his way back inside. "As for the rest of you, I know that Crow enjoys having you here, but I really think you should go back to the city." muttered the Fear Guardian amid the cries out outrage, mostly coming from Reya while the twins merely glared at Phobius. "You can't make us leave, Crow needs us!" Reya insisted. "I am the only one who is supposed to be living here, having all of you here, along with Rem and Crow just makes it more likely that I will be discovered as a traitor! If you really care about Crow's wellbeing, you'll go back." said the Guardian firmly, and Reya bit her lip. However, her eyes widened as Lee strode forward until he was directly in front of the Guardian. "They we'll stay inside, and we won't get in your way. Please...let us stay." said the Anthro Wolf clearly, and Ty gazed at his twin in shock.

Phobius too seemed taken aback by the wolfs sudden outburst, and reconsidered his stand. "Alright, fine. But as long as you stay inside where you won't be seen." he said quietly and swept around, his wings trailing after him like a cape. Reya followed quickly after, giving Lee a wink as she passed, but as the wolf started to head towards the estate, he noticed that Ty was still staring at him. Lee sighed and walked back to his twin, and took his paw, leading him back inside despite the wolfs silent protest. As he shut the door behind him, Lee couldn't help but notice the outline of dragons in the distance, and quickly disappeared inside, his face etched into a frown.

Rem sat upon his perch quietly as he peered down to the estate. Spotting Crow outside relaxing placed a slight smile on his face. His mind was still plagued by the memories of the burning city and the screams of the wounded. That previous night, the young fire dragon started to view small flashbacks to when he was in his uncontrolled state. He had never felt that angry towards a single dragon or a small group before and something inside of him just snapped. There was one crucial piece to the event though that bothered him the most. He enjoyed it. He enjoyed having the power to cut down anyone in his path. He enjoyed watching the westerns suffer in their own city at his paws. He even enjoyed skewering the healer! The young black dragon shook his head to attempt to shake himself from his dark thoughts. Was this power inside of him evil? Was HE supposed to be evil? Rem snarled and clawed at his perch. No! He was a kind dragon! Sure he had a bit of a temper at times but all he wanted to do was help, not harm! Phobius even said he was turning out to be a fine young dragon! What would the fear guardian think of him now after he tore apart half of the city? Growling, the black dragon placed his head on his paws and looked out into the distance. Lifting and tilting his head, Rem looked closer to see that there was a group of ten to twelve... dragons flying their way! Leaping off of the perch, Rem landed roughly in the courtyard where Phobius was sitting reading a book and looked to his mentor with a panicked expression. "Master! We're under attack!"