Here is Chapter 14. I hope you all like it. I will accept any constructive critism but please give it gently if you have any. No flames and R&R.

Chapter 14

Takeshi groaned softly as his tired and bruised body slowly came around. He had no idea how long he had been out for the strange lighting outside his window made it impossible to determine the time of day. He lay there in silence thinking about a variety of things. He thought for the first time since he had met him about his father. For so many years he had envisioned his father as a powerful warrior who had been just, kind, and in love with Ember. Though his original respect for his unknown father had long since evaporated upon learning what Lethek was to him, he had now grown a small amount of respect for him regardless of his acts. Lethek had seemed to him to be evil but now he was unsure of it. His father had been so far as Takeshi could tell; fair, honest, and in all usual senses kind to Takeshi in every respect apart from keeping him away from Masami. He lay there quietly as the light outside his window lightened a bit but before he could fully appreciate the sudden beauty of the lightened sky on the black crystal a revelation came to him as he thought about Lethek and Spyro. Lethek had said that he and Spyro where brothers and if that were true then he and Masami were…. Silent tears stung his eyes as the realization of what that meant hit him.

If Spyro and Lethek were brothers then he and Masami were first cousins. Although in most dragon societies there was nothing wrong with this relationship, to him on the other hand it pained him more than a thousand hot knives. How could he accept this? He had spent so much of his live under the impression that he and Masami were nothing more or less than best friends that was until their first kiss. At that blissful moment in his life a bright new future had been opened to him but had been just as violently torn away by the knowledge he had come to learn. He still felt love burn in his heart for her but it was now tainted with a knowledge that he did not want. He sobbed stiffly as the feeling of loss poured into him as he thought of all the futures he had being planning seemed to die in his mind. The world felt cold, cruel, and frightening as the last of his hopes became tainted. He had always been strong of both will and heart but even he had limits on what he could handle before succumbing to tears.

Unbeknownst to Takeshi as he cried silently in bed, Lethek watched from a Sight pool in his room. He looked upon the heaving form of his son and slowly the black scales on his face became streaked with a bright silvery blue. He felt something wet slide down his face and he did not need to look to know what it was he still felt disgust at his weakness though the feeling was weaker than anything he had felt before. He impatiently wiped away the tear as he called, "Saeyln, come in here." The door opened and the black she-dragon walked over the threshold and knelt before him, she looked up and froze as she saw the streaks of silver blue scales on his face. Saeyln asked, "Yes father, what is that you require of me?" Lethek said in a slightly shaky, warm voice, "I have decided to allow Masami the ability to visit your brother when ever she wants." Saeyln usually impassive face registered nothing but shock at her father's words. He had been quite firm on the point that she was to be kept away from Takeshi at all cost except at the expense of Masami's life.

Protests immediately began forming in her mind as she finally burst out, "What is the meaning of this!? You told both Nyclis and I quite vehemently that they were to be kept apart, why this sudden change in the plan?" Lethek looked into her mismatched eyes and keeping the gaze slammed his tail against the floor. Saeyln fell silent immediately and gazed at her father in apparent confusion. Lethek looked at her and said, "My reasons are my own and you know full well that I will withhold information from the two of you until I deem it the right time in which to tell you but I will tell you this and make sure that Nyclis knows it as well that I believe it is necessary." Saeyln apparently still had objections but she remained silent as Lethek gripped at his own head with a snarl. He looked at Saeyln and said, "You may go, tell Masami of my decision and let your sister know likewise so she does not do anything that would go against my wishes." Saeyln rose to her feet, bowed, and left. Lethek felt pain, the pain was more agony than anything else but it burned in his soul as well as his mind. Broken images flashed through his mind as he fought the pain but his soul and will failed to fight it and he eventually succumbed to the pain and all went black.

Lethek saw in his minds eyes a vision most strange. It seemed to him that he was viewing it as if though a mirror and what he saw was startling to him. He saw himself with bright sliver-blue scales sitting at a desk in a room that he realized was his own from over twenty five years ago. He thought that he might even remember the day; it was as he now remembered it. The bed lay in the corner as he remembered; it also was placed exactly three feet from the window. His desk had been next to the door and he also remembered the hidden room whose entrance was under his bed. The younger him, Lethek saw, was pouring over a black leather bound tome that emitted a faint blackish purple light. Lethek watched his younger self and realized that what he was seeing was a memory that he had apparently been suppressing for years though he did not know why. The young Lethek sat straight as someone knocked on his door. He answered, "Come in," The door was pushed open and jade colored dragon slipped into the room.

The dragon was a she who stood on her hind legs and whose whole body was elegant and slim. Lethek remembered her with a sudden burst of what was unmistakably love. It was the dragon that he had given his full devotion and love to, the one with whom he had planned to spend his life with, the one that had made him whole. Her name he remembered was Valsa. She was tough and strong, a constant adventurer. She was kind but firm and an iron will to match, Lethek cursed himself for ever having forgotten her. She looked with fondness at the young Lethek and said as her green eyes met his, "I've missed you, why haven't you come to town lately?" The young Lethek held up the book and said, "I've been studying, this book is most intriguing." Valsa looked at him and asked with a hint of annoyance, "Why? Our Master lessons are over with, why you would want to study and on such a fine day is beyond me anyway."

He looked at her wondering, as the older Lethek knew, if it would be wise to tell her. The younger Lethek sighed and said in a measured voice, "I know that they are done but this book isn't Saegra magic it is entirely different." Valsa walked over to the desk and slammed the book shut and before Lethek could reopen it or say anything about what she had done, she promptly sat on the book. Valsa began cleaning her claws while Lethek looked in vain for a means of extracting the book without touching her in sensitive areas. The young Lethek looked at her and asked as calm as he could, "Will you please get off of my book?" She continued to clean her claws and didn't answer. Now he was becoming angry, he glared at her and asked again through gritted teeth, "Will you please move?" She stopped in the act of cleaning herself and said, "There is only one way that I am going to move and that's when I am ready." She gently kissed him before continuing in her cleaning. Lethek sat there and watched her clean her claws before he decided to take a risk.

He stood up and put one paw at her rear and one on her back and before she could object or make any kind of protest he had lifted her off the desk and put her over his shoulder. "At first she was surprised and not a little bit shocked at where he had placed his paw, he had never made any such action before, but now that he had moved the book to a bookshelf she said, "Okay you win I'm off it now, now put me down please." Lethek whose right arm was wrapped around her middle squeezed her tightly and said in a playfully romantic voice, "I've got you Valsa, have no fear for I will save you from a life time off boredom and from the confines of my house. Come, to the wilderness we shall fly." He raised his left arm in a majestic sort of way and then walked towards the door.

Valsa who was trying and failing remarkably to keep a straight face said in a coy tone, "You will be gentle?" He looked at her and said still in the romantic hero way, "Of course, I shall be your hero, the one who destroyed an army single pawed to save you." For such a strong dragoness it was quite remarkable to Lethek when she became playfully limp and said with a lovers caress in her voice, "You are my hero Korvas, and I am your lover the one of whom you came to save, my heart is yours." Valsa wrapped her tail around one of his horns as he crept as quietly as he could out of the house and once they were in the seclusion of the yard, Korvas, the young Lethek who had long since forgotten this name, allowed Valsa to shift position so that she was gripping his neck with her tail wrapped around his leg. When she was in a fixed position Korvas whispered to her, "Do you trust me?" She kissed his cheek and whispered back to him in a playfully annoyed tone, "Well what do you think?" With that the young Lethek leapt into the air and was gone.

Meanwhile the Lethek who had been viewing these memories of his past that he had never even realized he still had stood there as a mixture of emotions battled inside of him. Seeing her again was like becoming alive again being borne along on the bliss of her beauty and the memories he had remembered. But he also felt a revulsion that was firm and powerful but seemed to Lethek to be apart from him as if an additional voice was trying to control him. The scenery around him began to fade as Lethek slowly came to. When he was awake lay upon the crystal floor and did not move. He wanted the pain to come again and show him what had happened after he had taken flight with his love wrapped around him. His mind seemed to be blocking that out to him as if the memory was there but buried deeply in his mind beneath the years of darkness. He heard the door open and close but he didn't care who had just come in regardless of the protocols he had set for anyone entering his room.

He heard quickened steps that were heavier than anyone else's that meant it could only be one dragon. Shyleene came to his side and asked in her usual dark tones, "Are you alright?" Lethek nodded and allowed her to lift him to his feet. He wondered how long he had been out, there was no clock to tell him and was shocked when Shyleene said, "I just passed Saeyln in the hall and she said you had allowed Masami to see Takeshi, what is the meaning of this?" Lethek did not answer he had seen all of those memories in that little time. "What has happened to your face?" Lethek started out of his preoccupation and said dazedly, "What?" She looked at him with worry mixed with wonder as she repeated, "What happened to your face?" He walked over to the his desk and looked into the mirror and saw the silver blue streaks of color on that ran through his black scales. He scratched at them and realized that they were indeed his own scales, why then had they changed color? He looked at Shyleene who was still staring at him in amazement and said in a firm voice, "Don't worry about it, I do not perceive it as a problem."

Shyleene looked ready to protest against what he said but Lethek cut her off before she had even got the words formed, "Why are you here?" She looked stunned for a moment before remembering that she was here without an invitation which was forbidden by anyone. Shyleene thought for a second before she remembered the reason that she had come. "I found out that you had given permission for Masami to be allowed to see Takeshi when ever she wanted, what is the meaning of this?" Lethek sighed and looked at her and repeated to her what he had said to Saeyln, "I have my reasons and I will tell you in the fullness of time. In the mean time I want to be left alone so please leave." Shyleene did not move Lethek was acting very peculiar; it wasn't just his appearance but his manner as well. She opened her mouth to argue but he slammed his tail against the floor which cracked beneath the blow. She took the hint and left the room.

Meanwhile in Takeshi's room, he had finally managed to calm his breathing and stop his tears. He was finally calm enough to sit up and move to his desk where he picked up the book that his father had given him. It was a book spells just as Lethek had told him but most unfortunately he had never study the language magic known as Saegra so he couldn't read even the simplest of spells. He was on the point of calling for Nicolas when there came a soft knock on the door. He got up from his desk and opened the door to see to his great astonishment that it was Masami. She walked over the threshold and he shut the door while his gut began to squirm uncomfortably. She turned to look at him and asked, "How do you feel? You look like you've been through a battle."

Takeshi snorted with laughter and looked down at himself, she was right of course but he had already known this. He looked at her and said, "What are doing here? I thought that my father had refused to allow us near each other." Masami nodded and said as she came closer to him, "I know but I just found out that he has given us permission to see each other." Takeshi found this an odd thing to be coming from his father especially as it had being he who had given the order. Masami came closer to him, his mind was reeling half wanting to stay and half wanting to run. He knew what it was that she wanted him to do and his confused and worried mind was in a fierce battle. He wanted to hold her close and offer what little comfort and reassurance he could but at the same moment the knowledge of their link burned deep inside him. Masami was even closer now, he could count every scale on her face as he himself leaned closer both wanting and resisting the comfort and love.

Suddenly he felt that resisting the urge had become impossible to fight as he came the rest of the way and kissed her with as much passion as his tired body could muster. She pleasantly hummed as she let him kiss her and she wished that the blissful oblivion would never end, but there was more a hollow empty feeling that she felt in her gut. It was an odd sensation that she had never before felt but it seemed to intensify as she kissed him. She couldn't figure out what it was that would fill the gap but as she reasoned she'd find out in time. Takeshi broke the kiss and stood there in a brief calm as his instincts screamed at him to go further to move closer but he was master of the impulse and in short order the moment had ended and his worry returned in a brutal manner. She was so beautiful even in the perpetual twilight outside his window did nothing to mar her beauty. He stood there as she hugged him tightly and wondered if he would ever be able to sallow his pride and accept that his live was indeed meant to be with her and no one else.

He put his arms around her and her warmth joined his as they stood in front of the window overlooking a harsh landscape. He felt that they were the only beacon of hope and love in the sea of turmoil and death in which they had been thrust be the hands of evil, the constant beauty, the constant love, the constant hope was theirs always. She looked into his eyes, his fathomless crystal clear eyes and it seemed to her that in the moment before he looked away there souls had been bound by love, never to be broken.
She put her head on his shoulder and whispered to him, "An eternity in a moment, shared forevermore in memory by two lovers who sought never to be separated, never to be broken. A love of legend, ageless and beautiful, never shall we part." She looked back into his eyes and as he finished with a warm smile, "Bound forever, soul and mind, never shall we part. Together we shall live and love and thus shall we always be one. Time will not have hold on us, eternally yours I shall be." They smiled together as they both finished the last verse, "Never shall we break, never shall our souls part. Forevermore we are one, through life and death we are eternally bound by love. It is our destiny, always meant to be." They kissed one final kiss before he said, "Masami I am truly sorry but…" She interrupted him, "Don't worry I know that you have much to do and I hope that in some small way our meeting here will keep you spirit alive until this ordeal is ended. I shall take my leave but I promise you, we will see each other again."

Takeshi nodded but before she could leave as they stood there in each others arms, a bright burst of sunlight poured into the room as a break appeared in the clouds. Masami's scales brightened and became more beautiful as the sunlight hit them she smiled at him then turned to go. He wanted her to stay at that moment as the sunlight poured in through his window but before he could hurry after her she was through the day and the door had shut as the ray of sunlight was once again obscured by the dark clouds. His soul seemed to him to feel incomplete as if there was something missing inside of him but he couldn't place what was causing it; all he knew was that when Masami had left his room he had all of the sudden felt empty.

He figured that what ever it was it had something to do with her and as dwelled on the moment they had spent together and realized that he had been foolish in the extreme to have ever thought that he and Masami were not meant to be. He left the room as his predicament returned to him. He headed of to the library thinking that there must be a dictionary on Saegra. When he pushed the door open however his jaw dropped as he swore to himself. The library was easily three hundred yards high and over two hundred long. He added to his broken train of though, "Somewhere in here."
This was going to take awhile.