"What you resist, persists."

— Carl Jung

Chapter 13: Confrontation

Fynir awoke to the sound of morning birds, singing a chorus with their seemingly cheerful chirping. He yawned groggily and hopped off his bed before proceeding to the door. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before letting his senses settle in for the morning.

He recalled his concerns from last night and opened the door before proceeding outside. Leisurely pacing his way to Glint's room, he stopped at the door and knocked. The light dragon was normally awake at this time, he presumed. However, there was no answer. Maybe he wasn't in his room? The red dragon shrugged and turned his head to gaze at the nearby window. He blinked. "Wha…? Why am I awake so early?" He said to himself, noticing how the moon was gone, but the sun hadn't risen either

He reckoned it was best to grab food before doing anything else and proceeded to the dining halls. Fynir didn't expect to find anyone there, but someone was there. Which may be surprising to him, if it wasn't someone he wouldn't expect to be there, but not today.

It only took him a second to register the yellow scales and muzzle buried into a book. Aurea. "Morning," the red dragon said to her. He didn't receive a response, not even a slightest sign of acknowledgement.

Fynir just grinned and crept up to the unaware dragoness. He peered over her shoulder and skimmed what she was reading for a moment, "Ah, nice book you got there. Interesting stuff, ya know, about, heh, dating," he said.

The next thing he knew, the dragoness yelped, almost jumping back. She immediately shut her book and turned to meet the dragon. Her face was covered with scarlet as she tried to say something, but it came out as incoherent noise to the fire dragon until he heard her inhale and pause for a moment. "Why did you sneak up on me like that?"

"Uh, I greeted you, but you didn't respond. You paid the price," Fynir replied with a nonchalant shrug, before suddenly grinning. "Now, tell me why you're reading that book? You can't be that reliant on words written down by another person to guide you through every situation in life. It just not going to happen."

Aurea fidgeted, averting her eyes from his gaze, "Um, I… was curious about things… alright?" It was always so amusing to embarrass Aurea, at least for Fynir it was.

"Oh? How so?"

"Let's… not delve into that."

"Seriously, Aurea, you don't need a book to help you with dating. I mean, with all that knowledge stuck in…" he walked up to her and gently tapped her head, making the dragoness shut her eyes, and evoking what sounded like a slight groan, "your head. You really seem clueless about things like this. Come on, just go with the flow."

The yellow dragoness stepped away from him, meeting his eyes, "I find that whenever I just go with the 'flow' it places me in unpredictable situations. I don't like unexpected situations."

"Pfft! Come on, a little spontaneity won't hurt!" Fynir said.

"I beg to differ, Fynir," she replied, almost curtly.

"Oh, golly, you sound like a snob, 'I beg to differ,'" the dragon said, with the dismissive wave of his paw. He then casually waltzed over to the book and grabbed it. "You don't need this trash," he said in a nonchalant tone before just tossing the book somewhere off in the distance. The yellow dragoness had this look of pure horror, and tried to recover it, but Fynir just barred her way and shook his head. "Trust me. Everything will be fine. Deep breaths, Aurea, deep breaths."

The dragoness shot him an unamused look, it looked to him that there were traces of mild irritation there as well. "Don't be so dismissive of the wonderful knowledge that books like that hold," she said, pointing to the direction of where the book landed somewhere.

Fynir shook his head again, "Alright, what did I say? It's not like I incinerated the book, calm down, I'll let you retrieve it soon."

"I am calm, mind you," Aurea grumbled, finally giving up and huffing.

"Doesn't sound like that missy; you're giving me an attitude!"

"An attitude? You clearly don't know me," came the petulant-sounding reply of the yellow dragoness.

"I beg to differ, Aurea," Fynir responded, throwing in a devious smirk. The dragoness just let out a groan and frowned, well… maybe more so pouted. "Heh, look at you. What would Glint say? Oh! Maybe he'll find this cute."

"Fynir!" the dragoness shrieked at him before hiding her face with her wings, he managed to catch her flushed face just at the last moment. Fynir laughed.

"Ancestors, this escalated into something amusing."

The dragoness, after a few moments, spoke up. "I really hope you don't think books are 'trash,' Fynir," she said, moving her wings back to her sides again in a resting position.

"Of course not! But you get my point is that you can't rely on them for everything right?"

"Hmph. Let us leave the matter alone now. I have to get going somewhere soon."

The red dragon rolled his eyes, "Do you hear yourself sometimes, Miss Prissy?"

"Oh, whatever do you mean, Fynir?" Aurea replied as she went over and retrieved the book without any resistance from the red dragon.

"You know exactly what I mean. How did you and Glint ever end up liking each other anyway?"

"A good question, best to answer it yourself Fynir, hmm?" the dragoness simply said as she began to leave.

The red dragon watched as she left, "No, better to ask Glint himself…" Fynir trailed off and thought for a moment, "Damn it, I almost forgot, I have to meet Sarin real fast, and… say goodbye to Sear." He glanced towards the dorms and shrugged, "I guess I'll ask Glint later," he said before taking off. As he was walking the dragon stopped suddenly and face palmed, there was something else he had to do all before that. The dragon sighed and turned around, this shouldn't take long.

"Since we are leaving now, we should arrive back home in a week." The darker wolf said, looking around the woods. All he could see was a sea of green and brown, along with the morning chirping of the birds. The moon already fell. The sun's time to rise was almost about.

"I look forward to it, brother," said the other wolf beside the darker wolf, casting his jade eyes at the sky for a brief moment. "It is a shame I cannot say goodbye to the dragons here, however."

"Indeed. But how are the dragons here?"

"A Z'kil lives there. It is fascinating, considering we were only aware of another back home. There are also the famed heroes of the war, Spyro and Cynder. As well as two other dragons, I don't think you would like to hear about them however. The dragons were friendly and were receptive to my arrival. I sense a great friendship with their kind as it was before."

"Interesting. The heroes of the war and a Z'kil? Is this Z'kil aware of another survivor? Did you inform him?"

"No. He didn't seem bothered being alone. I sensed the dragoness he spent his time with was attracted to him. I don't feel bringing another female to the equation would help. Perhaps next time however, it will bring light to his heart, I am sure."

The darker wolf gave a hearty laugh, "You were concerned about the love life of another? Much less one that isn't one of our kind? I see why father was adamant about you journeying here to reestablish our relations with the dragons down here Lykos." He said, grinning at the wolf beside him, his younger brother. "I digress though; perhaps we should inform the Z'kil back home that another of her kind has survived?"

"If we can find her that is. She knows our ways of tracking, and prefers to keep to herself, such her kind's old ways dictate. But do I have to remind you that she is a friend to us, and thus will not be referred to as 'Z'kil' but 'Vie'."

"Ah, of course. Forgive my forgetfulness brother." The darker wolf said, lowering his head slightly in an apologetic manner. "Well, shall we stop here to rest? Perhaps hunt for some food?"

Lykos gave him the slightest of nods before stopping and taking a brief look around. "A rest is fine; we are in no rush to arrive home. I suppose you'll want the honor of hunting, Auberon?" The sun was just starting to rise.

"Indeed I do." He replied before taking off into the woods with speed.

The heir let out a chuckle, "Ah brother, always willing to please your kin." There was a lapse of near-silence before the wolf's ears perked; he lifted his head in curiosity. There was a flapping of the wings, a dragon? Out here this early? Lykos titled his head slightly, he determined that the dragon was going pass him, therefore allowing him to catch a glimpse. It was only for a brief moment did he catch sight of the dragon. The dragon's white scales flashed as he passed. "Glint?" The wolf muttered as he lost sight of the light dragon. Why was the dragon out of the city?

Lykos recalled being informed by the Guardians that the dragon was prohibited from leaving the city since the attack on the temple passed.

He hadn't been present during that incident however, as he had been out in the woods, hunting.

The silver wolf decided that something was going on, so he would go back to Warfang to inform the others. He was delayed however, by the absence of his brother. He couldn't just get up and go, so he decided it was best to wait so he could inform his brother, then they would make haste to the dragon city. The only thing he could do was wait… and hope that his friend wasn't doing anything dangerous.

Aurea took a long breath, staring at the door in front of her. She stood in front of an average looking house with no noticeable defects or any sign of disrepair. After a few more moments of hesitation, she knocked and seconds later a wind dragoness appeared as the door opened. "Hey Aurea! So you got my message huh?"

A nod from the yellow dragoness. "Yeah… What do you have to show me?" Before Phenyla could respond, a fire dragoness appeared next to her, curious to see who this guest was. Her eyes widened as her mouth slightly opened and stayed like that until she found some words.

"Hey Aurie! Wow, long time no see huh?" she said, making the scholarly dragoness smile.

"Hello Sear."

"I bet you weren't expecting Aurea to show up, now did you Sear?" Phenyla said, grinning at the dragoness beside her.

"You. You planned this?" Sear asked, gazing at the wind dragoness with a mock look of disapproval.

"I did." Phenyla's grin just widened. "Come on, you missed Aurea! Admit it!"

Sear rolled her eyes and huffed slightly. "Wow Miss Artsy, maybe I don't. Have you thought about that?" She responded playfully.

"Um… hi? I'm still here…" Aurea said meekly, making Sear turn her head to her old friend.

"Oh, but I did miss you Aurie! You know I was just joking with Nyla over here right? Right?"

"Yes, of course. I'm not a hatchling Sear, I can tell when someone is just fooling around." The yellow dragoness said, sitting on her haunches as she crossed her forearms.

"Yeah… I think I forget that sometimes. But with the way you were back then, you understand why I act like you're some hatchling right?" Sear said in an apologetic tone, giving the dragoness a small smile.

"I understand. And I appreciate what you did back then. But we're almost adults now Sear. I think we all grew up."

"Well, not to burst your little bubble Aurea, but you're still pretty much the same. Smarter, most likely. But all the same to us." Phenyla chimed in, making Aurea grunt with slight irritation.

"That was not the point I was making Phenyla."

"Ah, sorry. I wanted to point that out you know?"

Sear cleared her throat, interrupting the two. "Anyways, Aurie, shouldn't you be more… excited to see me? I mean it's been years!"

"I saw you back in the festival with Fynir. I didn't want to say 'hi' though, it seemed to me that you were enjoying your time with him." The yellow dragoness explained.

"I'm glad to know that you haven't changed Aurie. You still don't want to speak up," the fire dragoness said with a shrug.

"Give Aurea a break Sear," Phenyla said, grinning. "Apparently, she has a boyfriend," she finished in a singsong tone.

"Phenyla…" The yellow dragoness started.

"Fynir did mention something about that," Sear replied, giving Aurea a sly smile. "So tell me about him Aurie."

"I… Why are you pressing into my private life? I'm not even inside yet…" The dragoness said softly, extending a wing outwards pointedly with a small tap of her claws on the paved road.

"Oh, where are our manners?!" Phenyla shouted dramatically, backing away to make room for the dragoness. "Please, come in Aurea. How are you friend?" Sear just waved the dragoness on in and mouthed an apology to the dragoness before moving aside.

Aurea stepped in and looked around the house, true to its average outside appearance; the inside of the structure wasn't fancy or outstanding with its décor. It was simple, plain and pretty much standard for what's expected of this household. "I'm fine Phenyla," she answered.

"'Fine'? I thought you'd be more than 'fine' considering that you where you were last night!" The wind dragoness said, closing the door before leading her friend to the living room, and patted a small cushion before sitting on one opposite of the one she patted. Sear went into a different room, likely to accommodate her friend.

"It's just the Amourian Festival…"

"Just the 'Amourian Festival'? Aurea… you were there! Not by yourself, but with a dragon! Something all of us thought wouldn't happen when you're by yourself like this."

"Would you like something to drink Aurie?" Sear said, butting in, her head was just poking out of a different room.

Aurea turned her head. "Water is fine, Sear." The dragoness answered, making Sear disappear once more with a nod. She then turned once again to face Phenyla. "Is it really that surprising? I thought we talked about this before Nyla."

"Oh, we talked about all right! But that was about you crushing on him and how you couldn't tell him."

Aurea stared at the wind dragoness. "Why are you so curious about my private life Phenyla?"

"You should already know why! Come on Aurea. Tell me. No, tell us. I'm sure Sear would love to hear about Glint."

"You talked with her about Fynir then?"

"Yup! Your turn!"

In that moment, the fire dragoness appeared with three glasses of water. She set them on the table near the two and sat on a cushion herself. "Yeah, I'd like to more about your partner Aurea. I'm leaving today as well. So… pretty please?"

Aurea sighed and glanced back and forth between the two. "Are you really going to guilt trip me into this?"

"I'm leaving a day or two after Sear does, Aurea." Phenyla said mischievously, tail waving faster than normal. Sear just leaned in slightly, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.

"Fine… What do you want to know?"

"So his name is Glint?" Sear asked.

"Yeah."

"Don't just say 'yeah,' Aurea. Elaborate will you?" Phenyla said.

The dragoness let out a small groan of displeasure before taking a breath. "He's a light dragon. We met one day when he came to Warfang, he tried to converse with me multiple times, but since you know how I interact with others that I don't know, then you know how that went.

"I finally started to talk to him after a few days. That was in the library. After that, I started to teach him things because he told me about his life before he got here. Turns out, he's not formally educated due to his orphaned state, so he's incredibly naïve and was ignorant about a lot of subjects.

"After some time, I started to open up and we talked more and more ever since he frequented the library. And later, I started to become attracted to him, developing feelings that I kept to myself for a long time. And then we finally talked after… well… I told him about my parents. And so here we are now. Satisfied?"

"But what about the festival?" Phenyla asked, almost moaning.

"Light dragon huh? That's surprising Aurie," Sear commented.

"We did what's expected of normal couples in the festival. There's nothing terribly exciting about it, Nyla." Aurea answered, giving the dragoness unamused look.

"You're no fun sometimes!"

"And you're just a bit too intrusive sometimes."

"Am not!"

"Whoa there! The both of you calm down, we're not arguing on something petty all right?" Sear interrupted, stepping between the two's visions.

"I wasn't going to argue though…" Aurea protested, but was quickly quieted by the chastising look Sear gave her.

"Sorry," the two dragonesses said to Sear in almost perfect unison, lowering their heads for a moment.

"Oh, it doesn't matter," the red dragoness said with a sigh, she then glanced at the water before picking up a glass, and gulping it down quickly. "I have to go anyway."

"Where? With your boyfriend Sear?" Phenyla asked, gazing at the dragoness. Aurea looked to her as well, before seemingly losing herself in some thoughts.

"Of course, it'll be the last time we hang before I have to say goodbye," she answered before taking off, closing the door, and leaving the other two dragonesses alone.

"I should get going too," Aurea said suddenly, standing up. It was already past sunrise, in fact, the sun was nearing its spot around noon. She made her way to the door and before exiting, she heard faintly heard Phenyla say 'goodbye'. The dragoness stepped outside, it was time to check on something.

"So this is where Zeth works, huh?"

Sear said to the red dragon beside her as they looked to a familiar structure, or at least, familiar to the dragon, not the dragoness.

"Yeah. Well, time to hop in. We're not going to stand here all, right?" Fynir said excitedly, hurrying along to the entrance, much to the confusion of the dragoness, who followed along at a more relaxed pace. Fynir was at the door, he looked it up and down before knocking. After a few moments, there wasn't a response, so he turned the handle and walked in with Sear closely behind. "Hello? Sarin? Zeth? Anybody here?"

There was slight thump from upstairs before they both heard the rushing steps of a dragon, and out of the bottom of the stairs, Zeth appeared with a grin. "Hey you two! Sorry about that, I was busy with some stuff upstairs."

"Where's Sarin?" The fire dragon asked looking around while the red dragoness beside him repeated the earth dragoness' name, slightly confused.

"Um…" Zeth looked around as well, until he spotted a green form by the work table. Her head was lying on the table itself, her eyes closed as she breathed in serenely. "Sleeping apparently," the wind dragon said with a shrug. Fynir walked over to the sleeping dragoness, while Zeth motioned for Sear to come over. "So I finished your commission…"

Fynir tuned the two out as he examined Sarin, she was definitely sleeping, and her googles were still on much to his surprise. The dragon noticed that there was an absurd amount of ripped pieces of paper on her table, even on the floor too. He picked up a piece and squinted at it, its handwriting looked like meaningless symbols to him, or lines. He set the paper down and prodded the dragoness gently. For a moment, nothing happened, that was until her eyes shot open and the next thing the dragon knew, he was stumbling backwards while holding his snout which was just burning in pain. "Ancestors, Sarin, can you not punch everyone who wakes you up?!" He said as he landed on the floor.

He saw Sear and Zethur run over to him, the fire dragoness had a concerned expression. "Are you okay?" she asked as Sarin, who was behind her, rubbed her eyes nonchalantly before letting out a groan and walking over to Fynir.

"I'm fine," he said releasing his snout and pushing himself back up before facing the three, he focused his gaze on the earth dragoness however.

"Sorry… I was in a bad mood," the earth dragoness apologized with a shrug.

"And how would I have known that?" Fynir asked, raising a brow, slightly irritated from the brief pain.

"You couldn't have," she responded before looking at Sear, she examined her up and down. "And look at this: I didn't think Fynir would actually score a pretty face. I underestimated you Smoke-breath," she said directing her gaze back to Fynir.

"Smoke-breath?" Sear repeated, stepping in front of the earth dragoness' view.

"One of many nicknames for the big idiot," Sarin said before looking back at her table. "Oh…" She simply said before stepping to the side and looking at Fynir reluctantly. "I'm sorry Fynir."

"What?" He asked placing a paw on Sear's shoulder, making her step out of the way.

"It didn't work. I'm sorry," was all the green dragoness said, her expression unreadable, but her eyes flashed apologetically.

Fynir realized what she meant and stared at the table. His emotions just bubbled as he tried to figure out which one he felt strongest. After a few moments, he looked down and let out a long drawn out sigh. "I understand. You tried your best," he said, he felt something wet run down his cheek along with the gentle touch of Sear on his shoulder. She looked legitimately concerned.

"What is this about? I don't understand," the fire dragoness said looking at the pair who worked here.

"Um… maybe it's best for Fynir to explain," Zeth said in a low tone, he glanced at the older green dragoness. "Sarin…" he started before the dragoness shushed him and walked over to the table. She pulled a bag off the table and placed it beside the tear stricken red dragon.

"Take it back. I failed. I don't deserve this." She muttered before leaving the three, heading upstairs. Zeth started to follow her, he stopped at the base of the stairs and looked back.

"I hope this doesn't bother you too much," he said before walking up, likely to comfort his mentor.

"Fynir… what's wrong?" Sear said softly after a few moments of silence. The dragon still had tears streaming silently down his face. She gently twined her tail around his and stared at him, expecting an answer.

"It was a project… Sarin was trying to build a replacement membrane for this," he extended his wing and then went silent.

"Oh… well, come on, don't be so down! I'm still here," Sear said softly.

"For not much longer…" the dragon said before shaking his head, "Damn it, why is this so painful? I hate this."

"I'm sorry Fynir, that I can't stay, I really wish I can stay a bit longer, but I have some obligations to fulfill." She then lightly bumped him on the shoulder. "Remember, you don't need to worry about your wing."

"But—"

"Listen to me, do you really think I care how you are with one useless wing? You're an excellent guy, Fynir. Okay?" Sear gave him a small shake, staring deep into his eyes.

"I… I guess," he responded and shook his head. "Alright, I think I need to talk to Sarin more. Can you… wait here for a bit? I'm pretty sure Zeth will keep you company."

"Sure, no problem." With that said, the dragon gave the dragoness a glance as he made his way upstairs.

Aurea found it very odd. She hadn't seen Glint at all today. Maybe it was time to check on him? Maybe he was ill? But even if he was… wouldn't he tell her? The dragoness sighed and stopped her mindless pacing that she was doing all this time on the soft grass beneath her. Was she being unreasonable with all this worry? No… she was being reasonable. Normally, there was almost a sort of quota that involved seeing Glint at least once per day.

Not one she made an agreement with the white dragon, but more so an unspoken quota, unconsciously agreed upon by the two. It had been a long time since there has been day where she had not seen the dragon. The dragoness stopped her thoughts, realizing she was pacing again.

She looked at the sky; the sun was coming down. The dragoness came to a decision.

She started to head towards the temple, leaving her secluded area of colorful flora, a garden, actually. A small section of the city's public gardens, hidden from the public eye. Aurea dodged the crowds, mostly unseen and mostly unnoticed, much to her liking. There was always the odd few that recognized her however. They never took more than a few moments of her time thankfully. Not that she was particularly in a rush either. Once she made it to the steps of the temple, she stopped and looked back.

Nothing.

For a moment, she thought… that she had heard someone. The dragoness stayed still, listening. Again, there was nothing. Somewhat frustrating, the last thing she wanted was her mind fooling herself. Aurea let out an irritated grunt and pressed on, she made it to the white dragon's door and stopped. The temple was nearly silent, as usual. She grabbed the knob and turned it… It was locked. Aurea frowned, then knocked, "Glint? Are you there?"

No response.

She considered her options, looking down in thought. Where could the dragon be?

"Doing something stupid, dear." Aurea blinked and looked around, that wasn't the voice in her thoughts, nor was it anyone else's that she could immediately place. "You want to open the door? I can do that, but you're not going to like it."

Aurea took a few more seconds before identifying the voice, "Illumielle?" As she said that, the spirit of the dragoness appeared, the form visibly distorted, but not quite to the point where she couldn't be recognized as a dragoness, but not enough detail to make out much either. "Why is your form distorted? It wasn't like that last time?"

"Ah, well, that's because my idiot son has decided to do something stupid. Sure, if he accomplishes what he plans to do to, I can no longer talk to you, and this… distortion, tells me he is probably in the process of doing so." The light dragoness laughed and then knocked on the door, there was a click. Aurea turned the knob and the door opened.

"I… what is Glint doing?" Aurea said to the ghostly dragoness, frowning as her tone dropped low.

"Something stupid. Want a better answer? Look in the room, if you miss it you must be blind!" The dragoness giggled for a moment before her form disappeared. The yellow dragoness felt the light dragoness' presence around still and proceeded. Not liking the cryptic answer she was given.

There were two notes on the bed that she saw as soon as she walked into the room. Aurea frowned and walked to the bed, she gazed at the notes, one was addressed to her, another, to whomever it may concern. She picked up both, but opened the one for intended to her. She took a breath before reading the contents inside. After what felt like an eternity, she dropped the note, it gently landed back on the bed. Stepping back, tears forming on the dragoness' eyes, she said, "Why? Why is he doing this?"

"To end it," came Illumielle's simple reply. Her form shallow and faded.

"What a terrible way to reach a conclusion," Aurea said bitterly, she looked out the window. "That puerile, lovable idiot. I wonder if he ever considered how I feel about this? What I think about this?" The dragoness swatted at the note, which lifted then glided off onto the floor somewhere. Aurea glanced at the other one, wiping her tears. She raised her paw and was about to do to same to the other note before stopping suddenly, she lowered her paw and took in a long, drawn out breath.

There seemed to be a sigh from the distorted dragoness. "He didn't want you to get hurt, getting involved in this. But I guess that failed, you're going to find him, aren't you?"

"I am. I want him to be okay."

"You're going off by yourself?"

"I… yes, maybe it's better that way. I know it seems irrational not to bring anyone else, but I don't think it'd be a good idea to endanger anyone else."

"Endanger anyone else? But yourself?"

"I… he needs me" the dragoness paused, almost hesitant, but she then put on a determined gaze. "I have to go alone. This shouldn't involve anyone else. He needs me."

"And I can't really stop you, but do consider that you risk a lot from doing this. You especially risk your life. My son cares for you deeply, that much I can see, so consider how your arrival will impact him."

"I'm very aware of the situation," Aurea replied, she went silent, looking down, slightly reddened eyes narrowed.

Illumielle suddenly giggled after a moment, causing the yellow dragoness to look up at her in bemusement. "I have you covered!" the form of the older dragoness exclaimed.

"What?" Aurea saw a wink before she was alone. The dragoness rubbed her eyes and then looked out the window. She then glanced to the door, after a brief moment, she darted out of the room.

Aurea traversed down the streets of Warfang, a bag clung to her as she made her way to the gates. Thoughts raced through her head as she neared the gates, which were open, but guards, posted all around were inspecting everyone who entered and left. The dragoness wasn't sure where Glint went off to, but maybe it was not too far from here, so she hoped.

As she exited without any trouble, she glanced around, trying to gauge possible locations, she decided that the forest would be a good option to check out, despite its size. The dragoness started walking once more, and glanced up at the sky for a brief moment. The sun was covered by large, dark, but fluffy clouds, they seemed ominous, but at the same time, quite comforting. Aurea made her way forward, it wasn't too long before she reached the edge of the forest. The dragoness heard something though, it made her stop, and narrow her eyes to focus ahead.

It wasn't long before two figures appeared on the horizon, they disappeared as they went downhill before reappearing, closer. She made out the two figures to be wolves. The dragoness, unsure of what was going on, slowly approached to meet the two. She reached an edge that was about to go down, but stopped as the two wolves suddenly appeared in front of her, panting. She recognized one wolf, it was Lykos, wasn't he supposed to have been journeying home? Why did he turn back? Her questions were going to be answered very soon, it seemed. The silver wolf, after another moment, opened his muzzle and spoke, "Aurea… Are you looking for Glint?"

"How did you know? He's missing. I think he went out somewhere. Do you know where he is?" the dragoness said, almost hastily.

"I saw him fly above, it seemed he was heading near this hill, it has a large opening that leads into the center of it, I believe," Lykos responded.

"Brother, by telling her, does that mean we can go resume our journey back now?" the darker wolf beside Lykos asked.

"No, I don't believe so," he said before turning his head back to the yellow dragoness, "Aurea, you're seeking him out alone aren't you?"

"I… I didn't want to get anyone else involved," she responded, slightly lowering her head.

"Perhaps that is not the wisest decision you made, but we can rectify that. You know where to go, I presume, so let us bring some of your friends to meet you there."

"Hmm, well, I suppose we can delay our trip back a bit more. Yes. So Aurea," the darker wolf started, trying out the dragoness' name, "Hurry along now, we shall meet you later."

"Auberon, let's go," Lykos said as the dragoness nodded at the darker wolf. He started to run, his brother stared at Aurea for a moment, his eyes boring into her before he ran to catch up with Lykos.

Aurea spread her wings, and jumped before flapping, she knew flying would save her a lot of time for this.

Time is really what she needed right now.

Fynir stood at the gates, he looked at the red dragoness beside him. "So, I guess it's time to say goodbye, huh?"

She nodded. "Yeah, it is. Don't worry, I'll visit when I can. We can write letters, if you want."

"Yeah, it's just… I'll miss you, you know?"

The dragoness giggled a bit at this, "I'll miss you too. But we'll be seeing each other still, so it's not like it's permanent or anything, all right?"

Fynir nodded, and reached out to grab her paw, she met his with hers, and smiled at the dragon, who spoke, "Send me a letter when you get back then."

"Heh, all right, Fynir, I shall," she was about to turn and start heading out, until she stopped midway, and then walked over to Fynir, who seemed to be a bit confused by her actions. The dragoness gazed into his eyes, and with a smile, leaned forward, her snout touched Fynir's and it was only split second before he found himself kissing the dragoness. Overwhelmed with emotions for the moment, he only could find himself acting in the moment, and as fast it started, it ended. The dragoness backed away, laughed for a brief moment and went out the gates, saying, "Goodbye for now, Fynir!"

"Bye Sear!" he shouted back, before lowering his head, and chuckling, "Well, I got a kiss. So I guess it's not so bad after all." He figured he was very smitten with the dragoness by now, which would explain the stupid grin on his features.

The dragon began heading back towards the temple, he felt rather pleased with himself. "Ahhh, now I can just relax," he said to himself, as he gazed up at the sky, despite his longing to fly still being there. He really couldn't care that much anymore, he is forever to be grounded, and there's not much more he can do about it, other than just coping. He didn't regret any more though. He could move on, he wanted to move on. And that simply made him content.

However, he did not suspect the clouds—heavy they are with the dark gray areas—would find themselves dropping tears, rain to him, but tears to another. "Fynir!" a voice called out, making the dragon turn around, he saw that a wolf, well, actually, two wolves were behind him. They both looked a bit winded, "Your assistance would be appreciated. We have an issue that we're certain you'd be interested in solving."

The red dragon noted the stern tone, and the seriousness of the wolf's gaze. "All right, Lykos. What do you need?" he asked, about to be thrown into a situation he wasn't expecting.

Glint took a deep breath, he waited here for so long, and nobody appeared yet. His opponent didn't come yet. Why? Was he being played for a fool? He didn't know, but the dragon spent the entire time here, reflecting, enjoying the nature, the serenity. His thoughts were calm, until lightning flashed, and the booming of thunder followed. It didn't start raining just yet, however. There was a massive wall of rock surrounding him, the only exit and entrance was from this small gap, the jagged edges of the wall are sharp enough to impale whoever would be unfortunate enough to be stuck there. There were a few trees, along with rocks, and boulders of various sizes strewn about the area.

"You are here. And I so am I." A massive dark dome enveloped the area, making Glint look around for the source of the voice. "Dear dragon, are you ready to die?" a dark dragon slowly materialized in front of Glint, glaring at him, covered in darkness, eyes red-filled with malice. It raised a paw, clicked it's claws, and grinned, seemingly waiting for Glint's response.

"Novac, if you can hear me, I'm going to rescue you," the white dragon said before backing away, and taking a stance, he charged a beam of light, evident from all the light pooling up near his mouth. The dark dragon growled, it snorted before walking to the other side, it then turned its head, with its back facing the light dragon.

"Try please, and die," it started, "Retribution. Redemption. Punishment. Justice." The dark dragon cocked its head, "It's all going to happen today."

Glint said nothing, simply narrowing his eyes, and opening his maw to let loose a large beam of light, it accelerated towards the dark dragon, who seemed to stand still waiting for the beam to hit it—it jumped away at the last moment before directing a dark wave towards the light dragon, and running up to close the distance.

A quick dodge—then meeting of claws and snarling—the two backed away, having probed one another. Then they circled—circled some more—a furious lunge was directed at the light dragon—a quick slashing of the claws into flesh as one was knocked away by the other.

Glint felt his own blood leaking from his body, the first blow in their match against each other, he wasn't even sure if he harmed his opponent yet. He charged a quick beam.

One shot—two shots—three shots, and a quick closing of the distance followed by another exchange of swipes. The flash of claws as one managed to puncture into the scales—into flesh.

The dark dragon roared as it jumped away. Glint, feeling pleased that he had landed a good blow, was about to follow up with more aggressive attacks until he heard a voice call out. "Glint!" This directed his eyes off to the source, he noticed a familiar dragoness, right outside the dome.

"Aurea?" he started before feeling an intense amount of pain as something launched him backwards. He felt burning around his chest, as he rolled along the ground.

"Glint! Please! Don't die! Just focus on the fight!" he heard Aurea shout.

"You fool dragon; your friend is making this easier for me," the white dragon heard as he heard the dark dragon charge at him with a furious snarl. Glint recovered from his rolling—too late—horns pierced his scales. The dragon was launched even farther back, he impacted against the rock wall of the hill, his mouth shot open from the impact, and dark red substance came out. The dragon coughed, and immediately stood up, a bit dazed from the impact however. He caught sight of a figure rapidly advancing. Glint spread his wings as they glowed intensely, and jumped in the air before flapping them once, and landing—sending out a large packet of pure light heading towards the figure.

There was a bright flash, followed by howling of pain. Glint ran towards the source, and claws, glowing with bright intensity—plunged into the dark figure recovering from the attack.

A quick roll—

Matched combat—

A disconnect.

The two had exchanged more blows, both damaging each other more. Glint breathed heavily, he wasn't sure if he could continue this for much longer, he couldn't' be sure if his opponent was getting tired as well. The light dragon, for a moment, glanced very briefly to see Aurea, her yellow eyes wide with fear, and a concerned expression plastered on her face. She mouthed something to Glint, but he found it hard to make out what she was saying.

The dragon swiped his claws at the air, but it generated some small shards of light towards the general direction of his foe. Closing the distance—he charged—it counter-charged.

They met—light knocked over dark—Glint was above his foe. He unleashed a torrent of strikes only to be blocked. His opponent removed its forearms from blocking, and had its maw slightly open, revealing a dark, greyish-beam about to be unleashed.

Brown eyes widened—an illuminating beam released to equalize the dark one. There was a mix of pure white and grey as a brief flash of light enveloped the two, and exploded, sending out a shockwave.

Two smoking forms flew out in opposite directions as the yellow dragoness stumbled from the blast. They slid across the rough dirt, as thunder boomed, followed by some flashes. Glint felt pain everywhere, he wasn't sure what just happened or what he saw. But was that a corrupted beam of light his opponent used there? He had no time to think. The dragon slowly stood up, and to his surprise, he struggled to even walk, and ended up limping a bit. The dark dragon across the other side seemed to be struggling as well. They both seem to have reached the same idea, and decided that melee was too risky, and the two charged beams of their own.

Glint narrowed his eyes, focusing on charging his beam, pooling as much elemental energy as he could in that moment, he ignored his pains, he ignored all the blood leaving his body, he ignored his nicks, his wounds, and simply focused. The beam kept charging and charging, it grew brighter and brighter.

Aurea watched this whole event, almost near-silent as she felt a sick feeling in her guts, this might not end well. And she hoped her guts was simply lying.

There was another minute. Within it, a sudden downpour of rain met the ground, and continued to. The minute ended as two bright flashes of different colored beams of light met in the center, at each end, both dragons were struggling to maintain this beam. Glint felt his strength leaving him, he felt so exhausted, and yet he pushed on, he inhaled once more. Feeling both of their beams pushing in a tug of war, he struggled to keep his footing. The dragon felt nearly depleted, he watched as his own beam started to give way, being pushed back slowly. The dragon closed his eyes, awaiting the inevitable end.

It never came.

Instead, the dragon noticed the beam stopped moving towards him, it instead stayed in place, before it started to rapidly move backwards, being pushed back or being pulled backwards, it was hard to tell which exactly. But then it moved forward again, the beam, seeming indecisive continued this for a few more moments, until there was a spark of light shooting out from the center where their beams collided.

It morphed into an orb of mixed light.

He saw a blinding flash last.

Aurea felt a massive shockwave as a blinding light prevented her from seeing what happened, the shockwave made her lose her footing. Yelping as she fell and slid down the rough terrain, she tried to regain her footing, it took until only after the shockwave passed she was able to stand, and once doing so, she dashed towards the entrance of the rocky walls. She stopped at the edge, and peered, there were two forms. Singed, bloodied, and still. The dragoness gasped, and ran towards Glint.

He laid there, eyes closed, an almost serene expression stuck on his face. The dragoness slowly reached out, and touched him.

Nothing.

"Glint?" she murmured.

The dragoness still felt nothing.

"Glint? Glint, please. Please… don't do this me," she said weakly, her voice starting to crack. "Glint…" she tried once more, her eyes filling with tears. She noticed something peculiar about his scales, they—once so bright and white—were fading. They were fading. They became grayer and grayer as she continued watching. Aurea took a step closer, she just wanted to be by his side now. Just one last time.

Another white dragon laid on the ground, eyes closed, lying further away from the two, stirred, his blue eyes shot open, and with a grunt, he pushed himself up. The dragon, who seemed to be older than Aurea, but not by too much, and walked over to Aurea and Glint. The dragoness was startled by another dragon suddenly appearing out of nowhere, but a quick glance at him and where the dark dragon was lead her to piece the puzzle together. Gazing at the grayed light dragon, the dragon said, "My brother, I do not believe it is your time…" he glanced at Aurea, scrutinizing her, the dragoness was rapt with distrust as meek topaz met hard blue. "And you… I am sorry, I am sorry you have to be part of this. Tell me your name, you look familiar, Miss…"

"Aurea… My uncle… he's Volteer. Perhaps you know him?" she said cautiously, eyeing the dragon who is apparently Glint's brother. She wasn't sure what to make of him yet, for all she knew, this could be a ruse. But she didn't get any sense of malicious intent from the older dragon.

"Ah… that explains it. Yes. So what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to make sure he would be okay. I didn't want him to go now."

The white dragon nodded, he gave her a small smile making the dragoness relax a bit, "You are his partner. Are you not? You love him?"

"I do…" she responded in a low voice, her eyes hovered to Glint.

"Well, I guess I have to rectify my fool brother's mistake then. Here, lend me your paw." He reached out, the dragoness met her paw with his, then he brought it down onto Glint's body. The dragon muttered something before his eyes started to glow, before everything glowed with light, the light then flowed into his paw, and Aurea's. The dragoness felt a strange sensation, it was very calming, it made her emotions fade, her worries, her fears, her pain. The dragoness watched as the dragon muttered something once again before a bright flash of light illuminated the area, and disappeared.

"What… happened?" Aurea asked, she looked at Glint, nothing seemed to have changed.

"Look around. And while you're doing that. 'Glint' as you call him, isn't quite dead, no, no, his essence is still around, I simply plucked it and returned it to him with your loving help. Well, it's more complicated than that, but the details are trivial right now."

The dragoness glanced around, there were orbs of light flowing around them, they faded soon enough. "Is Glint not his real name?" Aurea asked, a bit confused.

"Well, it really isn't supposed to be. His name is Orion, or was supposed to be," the older dragon shrugged. He gazed at Glint, and said, "Your love for him was my main source of energy, I wouldn't have been able to perform what I did without your help. I believe my brother has a rudimentary understanding of light. I will fix that later." The dragon paused, and placed his paw on Glint again. "He is coming back now. I believe my job here is done. May the light guide you, Aurea, and my dear brother." He said before turning around and walking away.

Aurea looked at Glint at realized his scales were starting to regain their shade of white.

He's coming back.

He's alive.

"Wait!" she called out, "What is your name?"

The white dragon turned and looked down on the dragoness from the edge of the exit, and said before disappearing, "I am Novac."

Off in the distance, Aurea heard the sounds of multiple friends approaching, a faded howl rang out.

Claws scraped the moist dirt, reflecting the brown eyes that shot open, which had the reflection of a dragoness inside it. A single, low word came out.

"Hey."

AN: Well, very sorry for the long, long delay. I got caught up with academics. I don't have too much to say about this, other than that I'm glad to have finally finished this. I certainly learned a lot about my writing habits and my writing in general. This story could have been better, I know that. But I do not think I'll rewrite it, but that doesn't mean the idea is necessarily closed. Anyway, it was fun, and I hope everyone who made it this far enjoyed the story, thank you all.

Lastly, special thanks to Unit Omicron for making my work more readable (betaing), check him out if you wish.