AN: Hello everyone. I am back from the realms of the dead. So... you're all probably wondering why this chapter (part) took so long. Two words: writer's block. Oh, and the chapter is split into two parts. I don't know when part two will come, but it will. Anyways, I have an announcement to make at the end. Sorry to keep everyone waiting.

That is all.

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."

–John Quincy Adams

Chapter 7: The Trials of Resolve Part 1

The cold, gloomy, forsaken atmosphere of this void was getting to him.

Every day, every hour, every minute, it was the same. The exact same "weather". Nothing changed, besides the large rock-like islands that flowed and floated throughout the abyss. What made them float? He didn't know. Dreams normally defied logic, that he knew. But this wasn't exactly a dream where he had free reign. The dragon looked ahead, what he saw was a large, abandoned fortress-like castle. He narrowed his eyes at the place as his thoughts became occupied by the mere image of that fortress. Numerous times he tried to escape though that fortress. And all those attempts ended up in complete, miserable failures. It was hard. The last obstacle was always the part he could never overcome because of its clever methods. That last obstacle was the darkness that took control of his body and trapping him within his mental conscious. It watched every moment he tried, whether he was outside of the fortress or not. The dragon wondered how much has changed since he had last seen Warfang, or the Dragon Realms really. It seemed like a faraway memory, his parents, and his brother. He didn't even know if his sibling survived the war.

Or if he simply was living his life now, in the cave. Unaware of the past or possibly present danger. It made him feel ashamed. He should have tried harder, to escape Cynder before having this darkness injected and achieving dominant control of his actions. Maybe he could have met his sibling then, if only. The dragon's last memory of his sibling was when he was a hatchling. He had to leave his brother before he could do more than care for him for those couple of weeks. Because, by then, the darkness was almost completely in control of his body. He had to leave before he lost control and ended up exterminating his own race. That thought still bothered him, although, not as much when it first hit him. The dragon idly scratched the black stone-like floor beneath him, he began to scheme once more. He needed to try, the dragon knew his opponent was at an impasse. It couldn't kill him as it would make it lose its host body. It just had to stop him from freeing himself. So that gave him the unpredictable time limit that was set and the freedom to scheme all he wanted. That was the good part about this... imprisonment.

"Here we are again Novac. Scheming to escape once again son?" A voice said in a soft whisper behind him. The dragon turned around to see another dragon, a white one.

"Maybe, father... If I wasn't such a failure," he replied in gloom.

"Don't say that..."

"It's true! You've seen me fail countless times here. You know I've failed in caring my sibling! I don't even know whether or not it's alive..." Novac replied angrily, raising this voice. He let out a cry of frustration and stared once more at the floor.

"Your brother. He's alive, son." His father said a moment later.

Novac smiled sadly, calming himself as sadness poured and dulled his thoughts. "So, another son. Aren't you disappointed?"

Solris smiled back. "Eh. Not really, I was fine with either way. I would've preferred a daughter, though." The dragon chuckled at the statement.

The two looked at each other. Solris said, "You're the eldest of the family alive now, take care of your brother when you break out. Will you?"

"If I even ever get out. That is..."

"Your mother and I have faith in you son," he patted his son's head before disappearing into a bright light, leaving his son alone.

Novac then looked at the fortress, took a deep breath and began to walk towards it slowly. Steeling his resolve he said outloud, "I will find a way out."

Its long, rotting wooden moat extended down once again. Novac knew his trials of redemption lay ahead. A dark voice spoke as he began walking, "Welcome, welcome... Trying to gain your freedom again, Novac? That is highly unsurprising of you. We all know what's going to happen next. But please, go on ahead and try again," the voice cackled and faded. The white dragon didn't pay any mind to the words of his foe, who was simply trying to wither his morale.

The dragon entered the keep and stopped when the moat behind him moaned and closed, leaving him in the dark place. The dragon spawned a small orb of light and launched it forwards, illuminating the path. He began to notice how different the place was than the last time he was here. Instead of sophisticated royal purple walls with neat patterns; the wall was a sickly looking mass of rotting flesh with a black liquid oozing from it. The hallway he was in was long and narrow, some odd-looking paintings hung along the wall. Most of the works of art depicted Malefor and his war. It was creepy enough to chill anyone's bones, including his. This place, this nightmare, was simply trying to replicate his past fears and doubts. And soon enough, the trials will begin once more. The thought bothered him for a moment as it always had when he first entered this place. The trials normally involved dilemmas and puzzles, sometimes they came in combat too. He had the vague feeling that this attempt would not succeed, yet, he must try.

The dragon halted further observations and stopped right in front of a door. It was firmly shut, but... Novac pushed it gently and it fell down with a loud crash, its noise reverberated throughout the hallway. It was still dark but the dragon noticed a slight flicker around him, then suddenly, the entire room lit up and revealed many torches placed evenly on the walls. It was bright enough to see further than five feet in front of him. He continued forward until the dragon stumbled across another door that had strange symbols and markings around it. He noticed three neatly lined pillars by the door, each one had an engraving on it. They were a thunderbolt, a fireball and three ice shards that were side-by-side. The pillars were in this order: thunderbolt, fireball and ice shards. He looked around for any clues, the first puzzle wasn't normally encountered this early for him. He didn't see anything but the same sickly rotting flesh with that horrid black liquid oozing out. Novac's gaze landed on the torches, their fire reflecting off his eye. The dragon figured it out! It had to be this, there was no other subtle hint.

He rotated all pillars to fireball which resulted with the door groaning as the locks that held it shut unlocked. Satisfied the dragon pushed the doors and continued onwards. Another hallway, narrow, tight, just the same as the last one. He pressed forward, suddenly he heard a faint feminine whisper behind him. "You left me Novac... Why did you leave me? I thought you loved me..." Those last words made him stop. He recognized the speaker and replied hesitantly.

"I did not leave you on purpose Sylia. It was a hard decision, to choose between your fiancée or a family that needed saving," the dragon looked down, the memory of that dilemma still stuck with him. It was hard to let go. He looked up and saw teal and white scaled dragoness looking at him. Her eyes filled with sadness and... a faint hint of anger. Tears slowly left her eyes. He closed his eyes to prevent himself from being plagued from any further emotions by her mere eyes.

He tried walking closer, only for her to begin walking away backwards in response. The dragon himself was in complete dismay, he should have expected the darkness to pull something like this. He wasn't ready for this. "You left me Novac! Just to save some family you didn't know! I trusted you! I trusted you to make the right decision!"

"There was no right decision in that dilemma Sylia. I just did what I thought was best..."

"The best? Was the best choice really leaving yourself to be hurt because of the decision you've made to lose a close friend and lover? Was it?" There was long pause before the dragoness suddenly ran off and went deeper into the hallway. Novac ran after her afterwords, doubting his choice. The dragoness was dead, that much was certain, and he was busy trying to help that family, as it was his decision over a loved one. His comrades were busy holding off the apes and grublins. He was the only one available to evacuate the townsfolk, along with a few others. But things were so hectic at that point.

The dragon realized that he was still running and this time the smell of smoke was about. The area around became fiery and was filled with clouds of smoke. The entire scene changed into an unmistakably familiar village. Sounds of conflict could be heard just around the corners. The place he was standing in was all too familiar. He looked just to the right to confirm his suspicion, he was right. The building there was Sylia's and there was the dragoness, she was looking right at him. This was the last thing he wanted to be reminded of, and now he was reliving the same event. "Novac! Help me!" The dragoness coughed as she moved away from the ever approaching flames. She tried using her ice breath to delay it but only coughed as a result. Her coughing became violent and she almost didn't see a beam fall right in front of her.

Off to the far left, he heard cries of help and the crying of hatchlings. Novac closed his eyes briefly before looking at Sylia. This situation was something he wished that had a better alternative. "There's a window at your left! The left! Try to climb out of there! I'll be back! I need to help others!"

"But–"

"Trust me, you'll be fine!" Those words were the ones he regretted saying. As it turned out to be false.

As he ran off, he could have sworn he heard the dragoness saying 'I love you' for one last time. He soon came across the location of the family in a small house, they were surrounded in an envelope of flames. He noticed from the mostly brunt down window that the hatchlings clinging onto their parents tightly. Novac tightened his helmet and shot a beam of light at a pillar barring the door from opening. It smashed against the pillar, causing it to disintegrate due to the intense heat from the beam. He knocked the door down with his tail and proceeded to look for an entrance, at this moment he wished that he gotten Sylia first, she would have been a welcome help in this task. The dragon's eyes felt irritated and he began to cough, the smoke was getting denser and denser. He soon spotted another door as he tried to locate the cries of distress from the family within. He shot a quick beam at the door and it fell down as a result. Novac saw the family on the end and motioned to them to leave. They complied and ran out with him following closely behind and as soon as he was outside Novac collapsed on the ground. The dragon coughed as he wiped his eyes before standing once more.

"Thank you sir! May the Ancestors bless your actions!" The father said to him quickly while he was coughing.

Novac nodded, "It's no problem, make way to Warfang, that's where most refugees go." He then began to run back towards Sylia's direction. He looked back as he heard the sounds of fighting getting closer. The family apparently already began their journey to Warfang. He was relieved about that, but... he had one more thing to check.

The dragon reached Sylia's house and stopped as he heard a loud crunch the resonated throughout his ears. He saw the house collapse and a wave of smoke clouded his vision. "Sylia!" Novac yelled as the smoke passed, he looked around frantically, and saw nothing. The dragon stopped moments later, realizing the worst had happened. He let out a cry of despair before gazing at the ground. His heart slowly decayed, it felt like someone had took a spear and pierced it deeply. Causing it to slowly shatter like glass and into even smaller bits of particles and molecules. There wasn't even a body for him to bury, he realized something though, something that could give him a good conclusion to this. So the dragon ran to the back of the house and there she was! An ice dragoness could be seen on the ground lying there, breathing slowly. His heart felt slightly mended at her sight but... There wasn't much to be happy about. Novac walked up to her and turned her to face him. She was covered in ashes and blood, she coughed weekly. The dragon noticed she was covering something with her wing. "Sylia?"

"Nov-Novac... I won't... I won't make it." She said weakly before revealing a wooden beam that impaled her side deeply. It was fatal and she had lost too much blood to be saved. The dragon realized this was the last time they'd be seeing each other and said with tears forming into delicate drops that gently splashed on the soggy soil below.

"Then... Then may the ancestors guide you into eternal bliss, love. May the light of my presence help you with that. He charged his element in his maw briefly before shooting a weak beam of light into the night sky. "There is your stairway." He pointed to the fading beam.

The dragoness' breathing slowed to a complete stop. "Thank you." They were the last words she managed to say. Novac closed her eyes and noticed she had her necklace in her paws. He took it off gently and closed his eyes solemnly, clenching the necklace tightly as the rain poured at an even fiercer rate.

As the rain fell around him, he heard the booming thunder, its moist feeling did nothing to help alleviate the pain he was in. It soaked his soot, blood covered white scales. The blow of a war horn soon sounded, indicating a retreat; their retreat, his retreat. He noticed soldiers, his comrades fleeing. The dragon got up and followed them, not only was the battle lost, he lost his dearest friend and love. Soon he found himself in another hallway as the scene changed once more. Back to the trials.

He opened his eyes and heard a faint, clicking behind him. As if someone was tapping a blade against the stone nearby. "How does it feel?" the voice asked with mock curiosity, "I bet you were struggling to decide on your course of action. Oh! But of course you were, she died because of you!"

"Shut up! I don't need your incessant, petty, small talk!" That seemed to silence everything even the ominous clicking behind him seemed to stop. He let out a snort before continuing on, his felt just about ready to escape. He strengthened his resolve and prepared for the worst scenario. And just when he felt like he was getting to another door large, a boulder suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... Subject, why do you continue? The result is always the same. You know that." the speaker responded in a sophisticated voice with a slight accent.

"Didn't I just tell you to be quiet? Go bother one of your minions if you're so bored!"

"Ah, my minions... You know shadows of the dead aren't necessarily talkative."

Novac growled, unamused by this charade, "Just. Shut. Up."

"My, you have a temper!"

"Cease the charade darkness! I know you're not the one to be lenient and much less willing to speak freely."

A loud roar was heard, and the voice spoke, its tone darker and its accent gone. "Very well! Next time we meet will be your defeat once more!" Then silence occupied the hallway, the boulder suddenly fell apart, revealing a skeletal dragon.

It extended its forearm and said, "Beware, mortal. The Soul Reaper is ahead," That was all it simply said before fading. Novac hesitated for a moment, Soul Reaper... It sounded ominous enough to give him a second thought. The dragon shook his head continued on, no point in turning back. He walked until there was entrance with no door, surprisingly. As he entered, he noticed the vast amounts of space in this room. The dragon suddenly felt something touch his shoulder, he turned around and saw a cloaked figure. It's bony paw still on his scales. The figure removed its hood and revealed three dragon skulls as it's head. It let go of Novac and extended its clenched left paw, and opened it, revealing a small orb of fire.

"Mortal." It said in a slow, raspy voice, that held no trace of malevolent intent. Yet. "They call me the Old Dead One, or The Soul Reaper, Kruzniyak. You are not dead, and yet, you walk in the room of the dead... Why. Is. That?" The orb flew towards Novac before it extinguished merely inches before his face.

Novac thought on how to respond for a moment. Kruzniyak was the ancestor of death and the afterlife in ancient dragon mythology. So, he was speaking to a deity. "I'm progressing through trials. Trials that will gain me my freedom of this darkness, should I succeed, that is."

The Soul Reaper faded and reappeared in front of him. "Fortunately for you mortal, I am a passive deity. I do not often intervene in matters such as this. Yet..." It paused and stared at him. "You are determined."

"Yes, I am." Novac said firmly. He stared right back at the empty, soulless eyes.

"That is amusing. You mortals already seem to persevere, despite all odds." It disappeared within the dark shadows of the room and spoke. "I will test you then. Fight my minions."

Suddenly, many skeletal creatures spawned around him, the dragon recognized some of them and couldn't identify some. They seemed to be all sorts of species. They all began to advance slowly, waving and brandishing weapons. If they had any. Novac took a deep breath and suddenly disappeared into thin air. He cloaked himself, an advanced method used for getting away or sneaking. The dragon suddenly lunged at a skeleton from behind, knocking it into pieces. He began to ferociously attack and dodge when needed. Bones fell one by one at an astonishing rate. The skeletal creatures were too slow to react to his rapid hit and run tactics. They all fell within minutes.

"Very good, dragon. But it's not over yet. You still have one last thing to do."

"What is that?"

"Find peace in yourself. Let go of her... Do that, and you may continue."

Novac was stunned, that was why the darkness suggested that this one would be a challenge to him. The dragon frowned, let go of Sylia? That was almost impossible for him. She was his light in the darkness, even if she was dead. He didn't know how to do this. He began to pace around the room trying to 'let go' of her. He wasn't sure if it was as simple as it sounds. He decided to relax since nothing was probably going to happen to him while he was doing this.

Minutes soon turned into hours. Every hour that went by the dragon grew increasingly frustrated, and confused. How was he supposed to let go? To forget the dragoness dear to him? Maybe... The dragon realized one thing, he wasn't supposed to forget about her completely. He was supposed to accept her death. That was the root of his problem, and the solution to this trial. Upon that realization the dragon felt his eyes drop and soon lost consciousness. The next thing he knew, he was back in his home.

The cave.

What was this? He saw two figures walking towards him, he recognized them as his mother and father. They spoke, but no words came out for a moment. Novac was surprised but he then heard someone walking behind him. A dragoness spoke to him, "Hello Novac." He turned around and was surprised to see Sylia.

"Sylia..." She smiled and nuzzled him before he could say anything else.

"I miss you..." The dragoness said affectionately.

"I miss you too." Novac said as he embraced her tightly. He felt a great void within in doing so. "And yet, I must let you go." He released the dragoness and stared at her eyes. She simply nodded as she understood what he was here for.

"I understand, it's for the best... I don't want you hurt forever either... I love you. You know that?"

"Heh. I won't forget. I love you too."

"Good! You have a brother to see anyways." She simply pointed to him. The dragon gave her a confused expression. And looked around, he noticed he that his parents were gone. It was just Sylia and him.

Novac kissed the dragoness one last time as he realized what she was talking about. He raised his paw and focused on the element within him before he suddenly drew an oval shape in front of him. It shimmered and flickered before revealing a white dragon, one younger than him. He knew this was his brother who was training while a wolf was watching him. Novac smiled, his brother looked like he could handle himself. Despite his very few exposures to combat. Maybe he was reader, or a learner. He wondered how much his brother knew about his element.

"Glint, watch your flanks!"

The white dragon turned and shot a beam of focused light at the dummy to his right before turning to swipe off the head of the next one. Novac felt relieved, he now knew his brother's name. Glint.

"Glint. Glint... Glint..." He said his brother's name many times. As if he was calling for him. He stopped a moment after before looking at where Sylia was. She was gone. He felt a minuscule feeling of peace, it started off small, like a fledging empire, but soon it grew large as if the empire was conquering many nations, gathering power and consolidating it. But it soon stopped, as if the empire had reached its limits and began to decline slowly, but that soon changed to a rapid deterioration, as if that empire was being invaded over and over again before it finally collapsed at the mercy of the said invaders. However, unlike the empire, the dragon relished that feeling. He felt that he was at complete peace... He looked down at the lush grass where she was, written there was: "At twilight's gleam, the darkness rises to be banished by the light at next dawn." The dragon simply touched the grass, that saying was both of their favorites, it was also how they always identified each other. One of them would say the first part, then, the other would say the last. This was also used by light dragons to identify one another, it was an ancient saying.

The vision soon faded and he was thrust back into the darkness, and when he opened his eyes he saw Kruzniyak staring at him. "You may go. If and when you get out and into the realm of the living. You will have the Mark of the Dead Lord."

The door ahead slowly opened and revealed a large plateau. He walked to the plateau and saw the similar rocks floating around with the same dark atmosphere as earlier. He noticed a bridge leading to another building. The dragon decided to rest for the moment. He relaxed and laid down on the ground. And he closed his eyes. He thought about what the deity said... should he be concerned about this 'Mark of the Dead Lord'?

AN: So what's the announcement? It's just that a new story is in the works, I've been writing the entire time before this update. Gotta keeping my writing fresh and not get rusty.

And before I forget; special thanks to Unit Omicron for betaing this chapter!