XXII

Short Chapter. I wanted to start the ending of the Gaul arc without a bunch of parts or cliffhangers. Some thing's are changed, but enjoy!

The first thing that hit Eozack when he awoke was the intense, throbbing pain in his body. It was sore all over, and it felt weak, like he had taken a four hundred mile jog, all while balancing on his claws. Groggily, he thought for a moment if this was just a hangover as he sat up, but the spike in pain made him sink back down.

He realized he was in own his room when his eyes fluttered open. The sun leaked from his window opposite to him, just above his desk, messy with pens and old paper all over it. His bookshelf sat to the right of them, decorated with dozens of books on science and geology. He was laying in his own bed, as if it were all some realistic nightmare.

But his body said otherwise. Checking his abdomen, he could feel bandages over the bite wound. Feeling all over, he noticed that the scratches and cuts were also tended to and bandaged as well. All in all, he was alright, for now at least.

A question started nagging him in his mind though, one he, and most likely the others wanted answers to: why was he alive? Figura always meant to kill or mortally wound her victims, and he had little value to her being alive, so why did he continue to draw breath on this Earth?

It was puzzling, but he could formulate two guesses: Figura was defeated literally seconds after he'd passed out, and the others managed to care for him afterwards, or, she'd spared him for some reason, and he may have had some use to her after all.

He couldn't come to a likely conclusion as the door to his room opened gently, creaking loudly. "Is he awake?" The elder dragon smiled when he heard the voice of Ignitus.

"Yes, I am well. Good morning, Ignitus."

The Guardian happily walked right in, to see a now-recovering Eozack. The color had finally returned to his scales, and he already seemed to be returning to his old, stoic self.

"Before you ask, the wounds will heal, according to the doctors. Serious damage was done to your lower body, mainly to your legs, so walking won't be much of an option. I guess we should've moved you away from the ensuing battle so you couldn't have gotten more injured. My apologies."

"No it's fine. You've bought me a much needed break from work. The stress of running around the temple and the city doing errands, and looking out for you daily could've driven me completely insane!"

The two shared a laugh. They couldn't help but enjoy the peace of the morning, even if Eozack was more bandage than dragon at this point. Ignitus frowned however, when his mind crossed over another event, one that was frankly going to end up worse than Figura ever could've been.

"So, I assume that she's been dealt with?"

"Yeah. I tricked her, allow her to trap us, then unleashed my fury attack. Before she could recover at all, everyone finished her off. You've been out for almost two weeks now, but everyone will be ecstatic that you're well now. I'm afraid though, not for much longer..."

Eozack's heart sunk. "What do you mean?"

"A week after Figura's death, Brontes, arrived..."

The elder dragon became tense when he mentioned the dark guardian. He had thought that he and the others were asleep, but, something must've awoken them.

"Wait, Ignitus. What exactly happened after you defeated Figura?"

Ignitus's eyes narrowed. "Well..."

She lay on the ground, a bloody, defeated mess. The fury and the subsequent attacks proved too much for her. Ignitus had doubted that it would work, but he wasn't ungrateful with the final result. The other dragons had left already, tending to the wounded or mourning over the lost ones. They didn't even waste their time with the monster that had put them in their condition.

On the other hand, Hunter and the Guardians stood next to her, ready to deal the final blow that would put her out of her misery. But, not before the dying creature could ask some final, important questions. She didn't deserve answers, and they'd be almost useless to her where she was going, but, they felt they could at least fulfill her final wishes.

"W-what... is he?" She weakly squeaked to them.

"Who?" Hunter asked, clutching his bandaged, bloody arm.

"Eozack."

They frowned at her.

"He's a dragon."

"N-no. Not a dragon... not entirely. I bit him, but his blood tasted... familiar..."

The other's puzzled looks almost made her groan. "He has blood... like mine..."

They finally caught the fish.

"You're implying that Eozack is... like you?" Terrador said.

Tears streaming from her eyes, she nodded. "I don't know how... but I know... he's my... son, or something."

The others couldn't believe it. Eozack was related to this freak? This blood-lusting, psychopathic monster? Her? Did he know about this? About her. If he did, then why weren't they ever told about her?

"We knew as much as you did, Figura. We had no idea of Eozack being a shape shifter as well, but, we are sure he will explain to us his reasons for hiding this fact."

Figura rested her head on the ground, wet with her blood. She smiled, but it was unsettling, making the others uncomfortable, despite her defeated form.

"Good. Now, I can kill you in peace..."

Her body began to glow again. Her smile stuck as it expanded like a balloon, inflating and inflating. The others backed away, terrified and dumbfounded by her new form. For a minute, they thought she was unleashing another monster, but she kept getting bigger and bigger, almost like she was becoming a...

"BOMB! Everyone, get away from her, NOW!" Hunter yelled as he sprinted off away from the bloating beast. The Guardians launched themselves into the air, flapping quickly and desperately, as any other nearby dragons followed suit.

Ignitus flapped his wings so hard he feared they'd fall off. His wounds burned intensely, but he kept moving on, not wanting to be caught and obliterated.

His body launched forward, against his will. He was sent flying at incredible speeds he could never manage, somersaulting over and over at a vomit-inducing rate.

He blacked out before he hit the ground.

"Well!? What happened next?"

"The subsequent explosion had left the forest in ruins, and left a massive crater where it was detonated. Those were minor problems, because the immense power of her self-destructing rupture the link within the Dimension of Convexity, or Falzar's home. In short, we cannot communicate with Falzar through our dreams as easily as we could before. Even worse, the tremors were felt all over the world, awakening the Dark Guardians."

Eozack's eyes widened when he processed the information. He hoped, and prayed, that the Guardians wasn't going to tell what he was sure he was going to announce."

"The war has officially begun, with the Dark Guardians attack on cities in a realm far to the south. Hundreds will be drafted to fight this war, many of those in the city will be included. I'm afraid our troubles have only begun."