Jacy: I'm back! Though I'm honestly surprised at how I still haven't reached twenty reviews yet. Anyway, mostly filler in this one, really, but lots of backstory and stuffs as well.
Wolf: Plus, this chapter is a herald of things to come.
Kain: Like possible prequels for several characters!
Jacy: But for now, on with the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted things I use; I do own my OCs and this story.
Extra Disclaimers: Stardust and Dax belong to Alec the Dark Angel, Arana and Azimuth belong to Shining Darkness Dragon, and Serenity belongs to phoenix firewing. NOT ME.
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Chapter 15: Memory Lane, Part One
Arcaein watched the black flames lick at the outsides of the temple, knowing that they wouldn't get very far before they burned themselves out. He was proud of Malefor for defeating the darkness that had controlled him for so long and sacrificed his own life to save everyone's, but sad that once again he'd been unable to say good bye to his old friend.
"You always were a hard-headed fool, Mal," the old silver dragon said, shaking his head, "Just like your sister. I hope you both have found peace with the Ancestors."
He could almost see the two of them in the sky as he turned his gaze to the never-ending blue looking back at him; watching over him. He let out a sigh as he recalled all the friends and family he'd lost during his lifetime as well as people he didn't even know, both this one and his first one.
'How many good and innocent people have I watched die?' He thought to himself, before answering it almost a moment later, 'Too many.'
He felt a memory begin to surface, a fond one. The day he'd met Malefor and his twin sister Mina, both of whom became close friends to him, was a day he'd always treasure. Despite Malefor's distrust when they first met, it vanished almost instantly once the Light Dragon had explained a simple misunderstanding. After that, he'd gotten to know the two and found that they had been living on their own for quite a long time before they'd been contacted by the Guardians at the time to come to Warfang. Arcaein and Mina became mates once they got older, and Malefor became the brother he'd never had. It felt like it had happened yesterday to the old dragon…
Flashback…
It had been an ordinary day for the fifteen-year-old Arcaein, just walking through the streets of a much more intricately-built Warfang. The city itself was void of almost any damage from attacks and looked more like a work of art rather than a stronghold city. The young light dragon had lived here for nearly seven years, ever since his parents, a pair of fire dragons who'd been shocked when he'd shown himself to be a Light Dragon, had been told by the Guardians to send him to them for training.
He bore his parents no ill will for sending him away, after all they were still allowed to visit whenever they pleased, for he'd come to love the city and found a home among the other young dragons at the temple. He'd become close to the Electric Guardian, an older dragon by the name of Soren. Despite the dragon's blindness, he was a formidable fighter and teacher, which is why he'd been chosen as the Head Guardian not long after he was appointed as a Guardian.
It was him who'd given Arcaein the rest of the day off from training, saying he'd been working too hard and deserved a break. After thanking the old dragon so many times he'd lost count, the young Light Dragon had run out of temple so he could simply wander around the city and relax. It was because he was too busy admiring the buildings that he didn't notice a pair of dragons around his age until he bumped into one of them and he and the dragon rolled until they landed with the other one on top of him. Both of them groaning from the new pain in their heads, Arcaein opened his eyes to see that it was a dragoness he'd run into, and a pretty one at that.
"Sorry," he said, unable to help the redness that colored his cheeks as he realized the position the two of them were in. She seemed to not long after and scrambled to get off his chest, her face even more crimson than his. He took his time getting up off his back to take in her appearance. She was thinner than him, not unhealthily so but lean, and her amethyst-colored eyes were the eyes of one who'd seen horrible things happen in front of them while they were helpless to do anything. Her scales were a pale green and her underbelly and wing membranes a dull gold color. Her horns were an ivory white and shaped like little lightning bolts, while her tail-blade was slim, gold, and dagger-shaped.
"It's my fault," she said quickly, shaking her head, "I—"
"Mina!" a new, deeper voice called and both Arcaein and the dragoness looked over to see that the dragon that had been walking with her had run over to make sure she was alright. As he looked the dragoness over, the Light Dragon took in the newcomer's appearance.
He was almost as lean as the dragoness, though he had a bit more muscle than she, and was a little bit bigger than her, maybe around Arcaein's size, if not a little bigger. His scales were a deep shade of purple, while his underbelly and wings were the same dull gold-color as the dragoness, his horns the same color as they curved a bit back, hints of two more growing on either side of his face. His tail-blade was actually two, a black blade-like shape on either side of his tail. The young Light Dragon caught a glimpse of his eyes and saw they were light-blue and held the same sadness as the dragoness. It didn't take long for Arcaein to make the connection that the two were related, and with their similarities were likely brother and sister.
After the new dragon had been satisfied that his companion was unharmed, he turned on the poor Silver Dragon, "You! Who are you? Why did you attack my sister?"
The furious Purple Dragon wouldn't listen to his sister's protests that he hadn't attacked her, leaving Arcaein to defend himself, "I—I didn't attack her! I swear I knocked her over by accident!"
"Oh," the dragon instantly calmed, as if sensing his truthfulness and grinning sheepishly, "Sorry for snapping at you. It's just…Mina is the only family I have left."
"You don't need to yell at everyone who happens to look at me the wrong way, Malefor," the dragoness, Mina, scolded playfully, nudging her brother's shoulder.
"Are you two new to Warfang?" Arcaein asked, looking back and forth between the two, "I haven't seen you around before now, though I don't get away from training very often so if not then it's not that bad."
"Yes, we are new," Mina said, nodding as she mimicked her brother's embarrassed grin, "That's kinda why I ran into you, I was admiring the buildings and not paying attention to where I was walking."
"Don't worry, I've lived here for nearly seven years and I still do that," the Light dragon said, a sheepish look forming on his face as well, "It's why I ran into you."
"Wait, did you say 'training'?" Malefor asked suddenly, causing the other two to turn to look at him, "Then you know where the temple is?"
"Yeah," Arcaein nodded before turning his head slightly to the side, "I live there. Why?"
"I got a letter from the Guardians asking for me and my sister to come live at the temple," the Purple Dragon explained, "I guess they finally heard about us living as orphans."
"You're orphans?" the Silver Dragon asked, surprised, "What happened? Why didn't you come to Warfang immediately?"
"I'd…rather not talk about it," Malefor said, looking away while Mina began to sniffle as she held back a flood of tears.
"Oh, okay," Arcaein said, nodding in understanding, "C'mon, I'll take you guys to the temple so we can let the Guardians know you're here."
"Okay," the two siblings said, happy about the subject change. The Light Dragon took off through the city, making his way towards the temple at the center with the two dragons hurrying after him.
Flashback End…
"Taking a trip down memory lane?" a familiar voice asked and the old Silver Dragon turned to see Kepesk standing there, his wounds covered in a salve that looked like it was made from berries and herbs, likely made by Hunter. He took a seat next to his friend and fellow General while Arcaein nodded slowly.
"I was remembering the first time I met Malefor and Mina," he replied sadly, noticing that the flames had gone out while he'd been lost in the past.
"I remember you telling me about that," the yellow dragon chuckled, "You wouldn't stop saying how pretty she was."
"Hey!" the old Light Dragon protested, looking at his comrade, "You thought she was too when you saw her!"
"That may be true," Kepesk agreed, turning to look at Arcaein with his electric-blue eyes, "but I'm not the one that ended up with her, was I?"
"No," the Silver Dragon relented, "I was. Ha, look at us! Bickering over a memory, we must be getting old."
"Speak for yourself!" the electric dragon teased, grinning humorously, "I've never felt younger!"
The two burst into laughter at their own small joke, but it died down after a moment and Arcaein spoke once again, "You sound just like Arlyn, I wonder what he'd say if he saw the two of us acting like this."
"Knowing that old water-bug, he'd probably join in," Kepesk sighed, remembering what they'd been told of their friend's fate by Cain and the other's that had gone in to rescue the Generals and Guardians, "Remember when he first came to the temple?"
"And everyone but our little group of four made fun of all his fins?" Arcaein questioned, smiling at the memory, "Yeah, I remember. You, me, and Malefor actually got into fights defending him against everyone else even though we hardly knew him."
"Eventually everyone understood that making fun of Arlyn was grounds for a fight with the top three students in the temple, and an earful from the fourth as well as the Guardians," the electric dragon chuckled, shaking his head, "I've still got a few scars from those fights."
"Me, too," the Silver Dragon said, nodding. It wasn't long before the two of them became lost in the memory of meeting their now-deceased friend.
Flashback…
"Ha! Look at the new kid!" a dark red dragon, a well-known bully by everyone in the temple whose name was Dustin, tormented a young blue dragon surrounded by him and his group of friends, "He's got fins! And he doesn't even have a tail blade!"
Most of the room of training dragons and dragonesses burst into laughter at the poor dragon, among those that did not was a well-known group of four. Malefor, Mina, Arcaein, and Kepesk all made their way over to where the group of tormentors had cornered the new student. They came to a stop just behind them and the Light Dragon shouted over the laughter.
"Hey Dusty!" he yelled, causing the amusement to die down as the group of bullies turned to face the four, "Too afraid to pick on someone smaller than you so you have to have three-to-one odds to feel safe?"
"Mind your own business, Pretty Boy," Dustin growled, showing his sharp teeth as he narrowed his dark-green eyes, "Otherwise, you and your little friends might get hurt."
"Is that a threat?" Malefor asked, taking a step closer.
"What if it is, oh Masterful One?" the red dragon prodded, smirking as he used the name that many tormented the dragon with for he was one of the star pupils of the Guardians due to his strange ability to master any element, "What are you going to do about it?"
"We," Kepesk said as he and Arcaein stepped forward to stand beside their friend, "are going to call your bluff and wait for Mina to get back with Master Soren."
It was at this moment that Dustin and his group noticed that the green dragoness was nowhere to be seen. Snarling, the crimson dragon launched himself at Arcaein while his goons followed his lead and attacked Malefor and Kepesk. The Light Dragon found himself clawing and biting at the bully as he tried to keep from getting pinned. As he thrashed about to knock his attacker loose, Dustin was trying to tear apart his underbelly, though Arcaein's constant flailing was making it difficult.
While those two fought, Malefor and Kepesk defended themselves against their own opponents, the pair of twin Earth Dragons named Kenji and Kato that followed Dustin like hired thugs. Both dragons had scales of a dark green color, as well as underbellies and wing membranes that were a dull brown. Their horns were curved forward, similar to bull's horns, and were the same color as their underbellies, as were the spikes that traveled down their backs to their tail blades. Their tail blades were both in the shape of crescents, but they grew in opposite directions; while Kenji's had the tips of the moon-like shape facing to the right, Kato's faced to the left. Their eyes were another trait that was used to tell the two apart as Kenji had a dark brown, whereas Kato's were an electric-blue color.
Malefor fought Kenji, while Kepesk did his best to keep Kato at bay. Due to his being an Electric Dragon, his element was mostly useless against the Earth Dragon's own. Despite this disadvantage, he used his wit to evade the strong Earth Shots that the green dragon shot at him and fired bolts of electricity that, although they did little damage, frazzled the dragon's thinking and made it easier to dodge his attacks. Meanwhile, Malefor took a more straightforward approach and smashed through his opponents elemental attacks by counteracting them with his own while he charged him. He closed the distance between them relatively quick and soon they were forced to fight without resorting to their innate abilities, and instead with their own strength.
It wasn't long before the three friends had managed to get their adversaries on the ropes, but they were forced to halt by a familiar voice yelling, "Enough!"
Everyone in the room immediately turned to the origin of the shout to see the familiar shape of the Electric Guardian, Soren, with Mina at his side. Soren was not a very muscular dragon, instead he was lean, built for the quick fighting and thinking that most Electric Dragons did. He was still rather large, easily dwarfing any dragon in the training room, even though some of them had already reached adulthood. His scales were a deep golden color, with an image of a blue lightning bolt on both of his sides that went from the tip of his spade-tipped tail to the beginning of his neck. His underbelly was a creamier-colored yellow than his scales, as were his wing membranes and ram-shaped horns. His eyes were a blue so pale they almost appeared white, the only indication of his blindness as he had long since adapted to the world without vision and moved around as though he could see perfectly fine; sometimes even able to move his un-seeing eyes directly at you, which made most of the students a little bit scared of him.
"What is going on here?" he demanded, turning his head around the room until he somehow seemed to sense where the six formerly-fighting dragons stood, a specific three looking at their paws in shame of being caught red-pawed, "Mina informed me that there was some sort of ruckus caused by three dragons bullying the new pupil, is this true?"
"Yes, Master Soren," Arcaein nodded, taking a step closer to his favorite mentor, "Dustin and his cronies were making fun of how he had fins and no tail blade. Malefor, Kepesk, and I defended him and Dustin and his group attacked us."
The older dragon nodded thoughtfully before turning his head to look at the quivering dragon. Arcaein did as well as he hadn't actually been able to get a good look at him before he'd jumped to his defense. The dragon was around his age, a little smaller than him, but not by much. His scales and wing membranes were an ocean-blue color, while his underbelly and wing joints were a calmer bluish-green. His horns were a dark blue and curved back in a way similar to Mina's, but his pointed upwards more at the tips. He did have fins instead of a tail blade, that looked like it was made of the same kind of fleshy-material as wing membranes, and they were a pale and semi-translucent blue color. He also had the same appendages on the ankles of all his legs and had small, frill-like ones growing on either side of his face. His eyes were two different colors, which surprised the young Light Dragon a little; one was a raging blue-green like the ocean, while the other was the calm and pale blue of a stream.
"Is what Arcaein said true, young one?" Soren asked, bringing the Silver Dragon back to focusing on what was going on, "Were they defending you before the fight broke out?"
"Y-yes, Master Soren," the dragon answered, nodding timidly, "They were only trying to get everyone to stop laughing at me."
Soren raised an eyeridge at this, but didn't comment on the matter and instead turned to look at Dustin, Kenji, and Kota before speaking, "You three are to apologize to him before going to scrub the floors of all the bathrooms until they sparkle, understand?"
"Yes, Master," they said simultaneously and turned to look at the dragon they'd been tormenting and spoke in sync once again, "We're sorry."
Afterwards they scurried off out of the training room as fast as they could, not wanting to risk any further punishment. Soren chuckled at how fast they moved; even though he couldn't see them move, he could feel the movement in the air around him. He then turned to look at the group of ten or eleven dragons and dragonesses standing around in the room, watching with wide eyes.
"Back to training, all of you!" he ordered, "Before I have all of you cleaning the bathrooms!"
The spectators quickly did as they were told and either found a sparring partner, or started attacking a training dummy with their elements. Soren smirked a bit at how much they all abhorred chores, even though they were a necessary thing and everyone had to pitch in to do them anyway or the entire temple would be filthy.
The blind dragon returned his attention back to Arcaein and his friends, as well as Mina who'd come over to make sure they were all okay, and cleared his throat to get their attention. He got it almost immediately, pride welling up inside as he recognized that he'd aided in the training of the dragons that would leap to help a dragon they didn't even know.
"Now, I don't condone the use of violence unless in training or in life-threatening situations," he started off, feigning disappointment that turned into a humorous grin, "but I think I'll make an exception this time. Go say hello to your new temple-mate, I have a feeling he wants to thank you four."
They all nodded before walking over to the dragon, who still sat with his tail curled around his front paws and looked at the floor. Soren, seeing no need to remain, left the room and headed back to his chambers to get some rest after rushing through nearly half the temple before things got too far out of hand. Sensing the four approaching, the ocean-colored dragon looked up with apprehension on his face that melted into relief as he realized that it was the ones who'd defended him.
"Hey, I'm Arcaein and these are my friends; Malefor, Kepesk, and Mina," the young Light Dragon said, all four of them smiling friendly as the Silver Dragon motioned to each of them in turn, "What's your name?"
"A-Arlyn," he said nervously, returning their smiles shyly, "Th-thanks for sticking up for me."
"It was no big deal," Malefor said kindly, "No one really likes Dustin and his goons anyway."
"You want us to help you train so you can stand up to him next time?" Kepesk questioned caringly.
"Y-yeah," Arlyn said, nodding, "but I'm no good at fighting…"
"Well, neither was Kepesk," Arcaein teased his friend, "but I whooped his butt into fighting shape."
"Hey!" the Electric Dragon said indignantly as everyone burst into laughter, even Arlyn snickered a bit. After a moment or two, Kepesk joined in on the laughter and the five of them enjoyed the feeling of mirth it gave them.
Flashback End…
"Hard to believe that shy little dragon turned into such an outgoing fighter," Kepesk chuckled, shaking his head, "I mean, he not only asked out Dustin's sister a month after we defended him against the bully, she actually told him to ask again in front of her brother and he did it! She even said yes, too!"
"Can you blame him?" Arcaein asked humorously, looking at his friend, "She was one of the prettiest dragonesses in the school and everyone was too afraid of her brother to court her. Hell, the two of them even became mates, remember?"
"Yeah, and even though Arlyn dating Dustin's sister caused problems in the beginning," the Electric Dragon said, "after a while, they settled them and Dustin eventually became a good dragon and a good friend."
The Silver Dragon sitting next to him let out a sigh before he spoke, "The two of us have seen too many people die, while we get yet another life. It's not fair to the ones who were too young to even have seen the outside of their nurseries."
"My friend," Kepesk said, turning to look at his fellow General, "everyone has regrets about things they could've changed, and the two of us have twice the amount a normal person has. But no one can change the past without drastically changing the person they became because of their past, no matter how much we wish it weren't so."
"I suppose," Arcaein relented, nodding slowly, "but one can always wish."
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"You're sure about this?" Cain asked Deryx, the human having explained what he and Ignotus had found out, "Someone forced the Rebirth Sigil onto my Traeia and she was reborn as human in another realm?"
"It seems like that, yes," the man responded, looking over at where Ignotus was trying to draw the spirit of the Fire Dragoness out of Elana without knocking her unconscious, "and we're hoping that having you talk to her while she can see you will help bring her back out without harming the girl."
"It didn't work when I was taunting her before I knocked her out," the Silver-and-Red Dragon pointed out, shaking his head, "What makes you think it'll work now?"
"Because you'll be talking to her like you would talk to Traeia," the magic user said reluctantly, rubbing the back of his head as he refused to meet Cain's gaze, "like a...lover."
"You're crazy if you think I'm doing that," the dragon told him, shaking his head in denial, "I'm not talking to some girl I hardly know like I would my mate, especially one who was part of an invasion force that killed only the Ancestors know how many!"
"If you don't," Deryx said, his voice dangerously low, "then this might keep happening until there's too many for us to track down and fix. Besides, if it works then you'll be able to talk to Traeia again, shouldn't you want to do that?"
Cain let out a sigh and looked away before he responded softly, "The last time I talked to her was over twenty years ago, before my brother murdered her and framed our son; and I believed him. Because of that I killed so many innocent people in the attempt to rid the world of anyone who my brother said had something to do with her death and my son's apparent one, as well as anyone who stood in the way of doing that. I can't face her, not after all the horrible things I've done."
The human standing in front of him began to say something, but whatever he said was merely background noise to the dragon as he felt a memory begin to overtake him.
Flashback…
A sixteen-year-old Cain walked through the streets of his hometown of Feklas, his crimson-red scales glinting in the light of the setting sun. He was on his way home after a month-long training regimen that the Dragon Elders had him do every couple of months because he was officially a ward of theirs due to his parents' deaths during a war when he was three and they wanted a reason to check up on him. He didn't mind it because it made him feel like he still had a family, as well as the fact that they paid for anything he needed. As he was passing a food stall, he bumped into someone and the two of them fell onto their rears, both letting out a yelp of surprise as they fell.
Cain recovered quicker than the other dragon and he got to his feet and hurried over to help them up, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to—"
He stopped speaking as the dragoness cut him off, "It's fine, I was distracted while looking for the person I was sent here by the Elders to look for."
"Oh, maybe I can help?" the red dragon offered, a hopeful glint in his eye at possibly getting to know this dragoness more. He took a moment to take in the beautiful female in all her majesty.
She had red scales, not quite as dark as his but not much lighter either, and her underbelly was a pale blue, like a cloudless sky. Her wing membranes were the same shade of color as her underbelly, while her tail tip was darker blue and shaped like a spade. She had four ivory-colored horns; two curved towards the inside while the other two were in between and went back towards her tail. She was slightly smaller in size than he, and much lither in shape.
"Well, I was told he was a crimson-scaled dragon," she said, her violet-colored eyes looking him up and down quickly, "Not unlike you. Your name wouldn't happen to be Cain, would it?"
"It is, actually," the red-eyed dragon said, grinning, "Why did the Elders send you here to find me?"
"Well," she said, looking away nervously, "It's…kinda embarrassing."
"It can't be that bad," he encouraged.
"Well, I need help," she said, looking back at him out of the corners of her eyes, "learning how to control my element."
"And they sent you to me?" Cain asked, surprise evident on his face, "I didn't think the Elders thought so highly of me."
"Er, they gave me a list of people to choose from to help me," she said awkwardly, "I chose you because I thought that maybe you'd understand why I have so much trouble controlling it."
"What do you mean?" he asked, cocking his head to the side slightly in confusion.
"Your parents were killed in the war against the Dark Army…just like mine," she whispered softly, looking down at the ground, "Ever since then I've been unable to control my element."
"Oh," Cain said, walking over to her side and wrapping a comforting wing over her, "Well, I'd be glad to help."
"Thank you," she murmured, nuzzling him under his chin. Both of them blushed at this, but neither pulled away from the embrace, either. Eventually, however, Cain cleared his throat and spoke.
"Do you have a place to stay?" he asked, looking down at her a bit due to the slight difference in size, "I mean, if not then I'm sure my brother and I could make some room."
"Really?" she asked, looking up at him with wide, hopeful eyes, "You'd do that?"
"Of course," he said, smiling down at her, "After all, I couldn't let you stay in an inn full of strangers, could I?"
"Th-thank you," she said, blushing slightly, though it was hard to tell with her red scales, "I really—"
She was forced to stop when a small jet of blue flame fired from her open maw and went just past his head, close enough that Cain could feel the heat from the fire. She managed to stop after a moment, and the both of them stared at each other for a while in silence. The blush on her face grew and became obvious even with her red scales, while Cain stared at her with wide eyes.
After what seemed like an eternity, he began to let out soft chuckles. She watched in silent shock as his laughter became deeper and heartier.
When he was so far in that people were beginning to stare, she spoke loudly, "What's so funny?"
"It's just…" he said, trying to hold back his laughter, "I understand what you meant when you said you couldn't control it."
"Oh," she said in realization before she began to giggle a bit, too, "I can only imagine the grief my little sister would give me for losing it again."
"Where is your sister?" he asked curiously, "shouldn't she have come with you?"
"The Elders said that she had to stay with them to master her own elements," she said, her smile fading slightly, "Her egg was affected by the darkness coursing through the land, and when she hatched she had abilities that marked her as a darkness dragon. I was only two at the time, and I did my best to help her for a while, but without control of my own element I wasn't much help, and that was almost fifteen years ago. In order to keep her from giving into the evil those powers bring, they said she has to remain there until it's shown she has complete control of them."
"I see," Cain said, looking away for a moment before turning to face her with a grin, "Well, maybe I can meet her one day? But right now, we have to get started on helping you control your own element! What's your name, by the way?"
"It's Traeia," she said, returning his smile warmly, "and thank you."
"No problem," he said, bowing his head slightly, "Now c'mon! We'll head out to the old training grounds outside town!"
He took off through the town, leaving a surprised dragoness staring wide-eyed before she quickly ran off him shouting, "Hey, wait up!"
Flashback End…
"Hey, you there?" Deryx asked as Cain felt the memory begin to slip away, bringing him back to reality, "Your eyes got all distant for a bit there, and you were mumbling to yourself, too."
"I'm fine," the Red-and-Silver Dragon answered , shaking his head to clear it, "Just recalling an old memory. I'll do what you wanted, but let me make something perfectly clear; I'm not doing it because you asked or to find out what happened, I'm doing it so I can show her that I'm still the same as when she was still alive."
The magic user didn't respond, merely stepped out of the way to allow the dragon to walk past him. He did just that and made his way over to where Hunter and Ignotus had managed to subdue the thrashing Elana, as well as get the magic-dampening rope around her wrists behind her back. She glared at him as he walked closer, while the Avalarian and Sage backed away from the girl. When Cain finally came to a stop in front of her, their eyes locked as he looked down at her and she looked up at him. Somewhere, the dragon could feel the presence of his mate behind the deep hatred that filled her violet gaze.
He laid down in front of her and brought his head down so it was level with hers' and, surprisingly, began to hum deep in his throat. Everyone watched with stunned, wide eyes as he began to sing, "Somewhere, deep inside of you, is a flower waiting to bloom. Let it find a way out and show the world its beauty, and stun them with its grace."
Elana's eyes began to get a distant look in them and she opened her mouth and began to sing, not in her voice but in the voice of Traeia, "Long ago, you locked away your heart; worried that you'd be hurt. But, the day you saved me, that lock was broken and you let me in. You were my knight, and I was your Lady."
Both of them began to sing simultaneously, tears welling up in both of their eyes while everyone was stunned at how well their two voices, baritone and soprano, melded together, "You lost all hope when you found me gone, but when I came back it was a new dawn. We sat down together, and said 'I love you' until the moon came, and then we laid down together, basking in its light."
When the two stopped singing, they leaned forward and Traeia, now in control of Elana's body, placed her forehead against Cain's snout. He breathed in and, surprisingly, found her scent under the smell of the Death's Embrace member. He closed his eyes as he felt the warmth of his heart flow through his body.
"I missed you," he whispered into her soft brown hair, tears falling down his cheeks, "I did so many things, so many horrible things, because I was blinded by loss and hatred. I'm so sorry for all the things I've done."
"Cain," she murmured, bringing her head up so she could look into his blue eyes with her violet ones, "Your brother tricked you, nothing more. You have nothing to feel sorry for, you've made up for the things you did by helping here for so long. I'm so happy that I was able to see you like this again, so proud and strong, in person."
Arana, meanwhile, was watching the exchange from a little ways away, having been listening after eavesdropping on Deryx's conversation with Cain earlier. She felt tears forming at the corners of her eyes and quickly looked away and shut her eyes to block out the tears.
To her surprise, however, she heard her sister say, "Ara, I know you're there. I want to see you, too, sister."
She turned back to see Traeia looking over at her while the Red-and-Silver Dragon curled himself around her, biting through the ropes that bound her wrists as he did so. His head came to rest in her lap, and she stroked it lovingly as she turned her gaze back to him.
The Black Dragoness walked over to them slowly, feeling as though she were lifting heavy weights with every step she took. When she came to a stop in front of them, they looked up at her with a calm warmness that she felt a little surprised.
"Ara, you've grown so much since I last saw you," Traeia said softly, looking up at her younger sister, "Have you been doing well for yourself?"
At this, Arana felt an overwhelming anger build up and she couldn't help it as she began to shout, "How have I been doing? We all thought you were resting in peace with the Ancestors, but instead you're trapped in the body of some human girl who uses Dark Magic! Doing well for myself? Ha! I gave into the Dark Elements, hoping to get away from the pain of your death and I ended up helping Cain kill all the Elders and become a tyrant before I joined Merikh after he was defeated!"
The Red-and-Silver Dragon tensed up as she spoke, but the feeling of Traeia stroking the top of his head with her hand caused him to relax under her touch. He let out a contented murr and closed his blue eyes, while she turned her violet ones to her sister.
"Ara," she murmured, reaching out to the Black Dragoness with her other hand, "I'm sorry for all the pain that's befallen you, but that can all change if you want it to. If you hold onto the past then you can never move on and find happiness."
When her sister's hand touched the side of her neck, Arana felt a calming warmth she hadn't felt since she and Traeia were children and her older sister was trying to cheer her up when she was sad or depressed flow through her. However, this time she fell down onto her underbelly and her head was about to fall on top of Cain's, but Traeia was able to catch her head and held it to her chest gently.
"Shh, sister," she cooed softly, rubbing the side of her face, "Everything will be fine, though I may never be able to be myself again, I will always be here for both of you. And I want you two to do something for me."
They both looked up at her with curiosity in their eyes, as well as soft unshed tears at the sides, "I want you two to protect and care for one another, no matter what. And never lose sight of what matters: Everything that you still have."
"M-Mom?" a soft whisper came from behind them. They turned to see that Athkor was regaining consciousness and looking over at them with surprise in his eyes, "Is that you, Mom?"
Traeia smiled warmly as she spoke, "Athkor, I'm so glad to see you're awake. I was worried I wouldn't be able to talk to you before I had to leave."
"Leave?" Cain asked, confused, "What are you talking about?"
Athkor got to his unsteadily got to his feet at swayed slightly as he hurried over so he could place his head against his mother's form, as she spoke, "This body is dying, the Dark Magic inside it had so much power that it's tearing her apart."
"Mom, no," Athkor cried, tears falling onto the black cloak she wore as he shook his head, "You can't leave, not again!"
"Trae, please," Arana whispered, tears dripping down her cheeks as well, "Don't go…"
"Traeia, I just got you back," Cain murmured, lifting his head up and nuzzling the side of her face, "I can't lose you again!"
"Don't you remember what I told you?" she asked him, smiling teasingly as she left out the implied 'idiot,' "I will always be here for all of you, no matter what. But, before I go, there are two things I have to do."
Before he could react, Traeia turned her head and brought him into a deeply passionate kiss that caught him off-guard, but after a moment he was pulled into it and kissed her back. She placed her hands on the sides of his face and stroked his scaly cheeks for a moment before she broke away slowly.
"That's one," she said, smiling contentedly as she was a bit out of breath as Cain did the same, "And two: Tell Deryx and Ignotus that the name of Ancestor that forced me to be reborn was named Davoryn. Good bye, all of you."
Before any of them could do anything, her body fell limp on Cain's side and the three of them felt more tears streaming down their cheeks. They heard footsteps running over and they turned to see Ignotus and Deryx were headed over to them.
When they came to a stop, Ignotus spoke, "What happened?"
"She's…gone," Cain whispered as Athkor sought comfort from him as he sat up and he wrapped his wings around him while Arana stalked off, holding back a flurry of tears, "Gone to rejoin the Ancestors."
"I see," the older man said, rubbing his chin, "Did you—"
He stopped as Deryx put a hand in front of him and shook his head slowly before he walked over to the three. He looked up at Cain for approval as he knelt down next to Elana's lifeless body that Traeia's spirit had inhabited. The dragon nodded and the magic user drew the sword at his waist and stabbed it into the ground next to the body. He used it as a focus as he sent his magic into the ground to create a rectangular shape in the ground around her, before the ground rose up and covered her form with stone. Runes began to carve themselves into the rock that covered her face that read: 'Here lies Traeia, whose spirit inhabited the body of a villain, as well as everyone else.'
"Thank you, Deryx," Cain murmured, looking down at the brown-haired man. He nodded in acknowledgment before he looked up at the dragon.
"Did she tell you anything?" he whispered, his eyes locking with the dragon's own.
"The name of the Ancestor who did this to her," he said, his gaze hardening, "was Davoryn."
At this name, both magic users stiffened and Ignotus softly said, "It can't be…"
xXxXxXxXxXx
Jacy: And so ends Part One of Memory Lane.
Kain: Quickly, go to the next one!