Chapter 26-Return

Finca snarled softly as a cloaked figure revealed itself from within the shadows. Its form was human at least but the voice pricked at her nerves. Tamli's memories still ran through her mind, plaguing her with stray thoughts of killing innocent humans or watching a dragon burn to death from the sheer force of her mate's aura. He had been right about the scenes being hard to handle, she would give him that, but she had done far worse in her life than he could ever hope to pull off in a span of ten-thousands years.

"Who are you?" Dhran asked as she felt a tremor of fear quickly flash through his thoughts.

The figure did not answer but instead lifted a robed hand and curled each finger until only the index finger remained pointed out at them. Panic rushed through her as Finca recalled one of Tamli's more violent images . . .

Amia had forced him to take control and burn several humans with just his aura alone. Tamli had no choice in the manner, allowing his very might to course through him. He raised a hand and curled each finger until only the index was left pointing at the targets. He mouthed 'I'm sorry' before a rush of white super-heated energy blasted from him and fried each of the innocent people.

"Finca?" Dhran questioned, glancing at her as she realized she was trembling out of fear. "Are you alright?"

Alright? She wanted to turn around and run for her life! Never had she felt so afraid. Now Tamli's warning about his memories made sense. They would haunt her forever because of not only his actions but how innocents had died. Like those helpless people, was she about to be fried from a gust of aura? Could this mysterious figure even use aura? What about Corruption? It was still a major threat even with no signs of Arxa for quite some time.

"Do not move."

Finca immediately picked up on the new voice as that of Tamli. He had shape-shifted back into his human forme and had come to rescue her. Dhran tensed and reached toward his left hip . . .

NO! A soundless shriek rippled from her jaws as Tamli lunged forward from behind her and Dhran drew a diamond-encrusted sword with an amethyst stone resting in the pommel from his left hip.

The cloaked person barely had time to think before Tamli tackled him, knocking them both to the ground. Finca caught a glimpse of a single purple eye but could not tell whether it belonged to her mate or not. A bone-crushing kick managed to knock Tamli backwards and he landed heavily on his side, a faint moan escaping him.

Tearing the black cloak loose from where it connected to his shoulders, the individual threw it down on the ground and stood up. Brushing dirt from his clothes, Finca recognized the familiar shape of the face and color of the hair. Somehow Amia had found them!

How? She growled in shock. You never left after we took you off to where you wished following the death of your dragon . . .

She halted, staring at his eyes. One had turned a bright shade of red while the other kept its normal purple color. Nor'ac, she thought instantly. No other dragon that she knew for so long had red eyes, well one red eye. The other she had ripped out herself after he had come following her laying the eggs that would become Verdra and the one she gave to Rados and Roylzen.

"That pesky she-dragon chased me here. I never thought I'd loose that mongrel!" Amia snapped, shifting his gaze to Dhran. "You're the one they call special, huh? My sister died for your life, remember that!"

Is he always so . . . grumpy? Dhran asked mentally to Finca.

She held back a snort of enjoyment. Always. He talks tough but there is a tender-heart somewhere in him. I've never found that tenderness but his dragon knew it prior to its death.

"You," Amia growled as he stared at Tamli. "Why come back? You have nothing here to life for anymore!" A sudden bone snapping caused Finca and Dhran to flinch out of reaction.

"I might . . . have something worth fighting to save," Tamli whispered as he pushed himself up with his right hand, his left arm hanging uselessly by his side.

Amia scowled, eyes intensifying with rage toward Tamli. "Prove it."

With no hand motion from Amia, Tamli was picked up and flung against the wall behind him with telekinetic force strong enough to break bones. Finca growled in worry, knowing full well the might of Amia's telekinesis and his stubbornness. However much she might want to rush to her mate's aid, this would be his fight.

Dhran, go and check on Aurelia. We will leave these two to battle against each other, she growled softly, nudging him with the tip of her snout.

The young human turned and walked back toward the room where Aurelia was with Finca right behind him. Tamli would fight for them and prove his spirit still had strength. Amia was still blind sighted from losing Nor'ac; the dragon's death having causing a ripple-effect in its bonded partner's emotional state.

Amia smirked once the white dragoness and the young Nekita male were out of the room. He wanted this to be between Tamli and him only with no outsiders trying to stop what would occur in the name of his deceased dragon. Tamli grimaced as Amia finally stuck out a hand and tilted it palm-up, moving it slightly upwards as he did so which caused his held captive to creep up the wall only about an inch.

"So it begins," Amia murmured, tilting his head ever so slightly to further see Tamli's pained expressions. "Tell me, how do you feel knowing your death will come in agonizing slowness? Every muscle twisting and writhing in misery until they snap like twigs. Your bones becoming brittle and cracking into millions of tiny pieces. Nerves cut off from their electrical pulses and gradually fading into nothingness, all the while screaming with agony." A brief smile lit up the unnaturally rugged features of his face. "Payback."

"Nor'ac dying was not my fault-"

Amia chuckled. "Of course not! You only lie to yourself and direct the blame away from its true source. If it had not been for you, he would still be alive." Each word fell with a footstep and Amia stopped right before his victim, raising his hand and cupping it around Tamli's jaw.

Tamli squirmed and tried to move away as Amia gazed deep into his eyes. A sense of foreboding passed over the shape-shifter and he tried even harder to escape from the mental bonds. Amia laughed faintly and, for a brief moment, his eyes lightened some. The rich hues of purple intermixed with strains of loneliness and depression. Then, in no sooner than a few seconds, the darker layers of rage and guilt clouded over the inner feelings of a person who had been dealt a powerful blow in the death of his dragon.

"Prepare to-"

"Wait, just a moment." Tamli forced a slight smile. "What if I told you I could go back and save your dragon from his death? Would that remove the heavy price on my head?"

Amia narrowed his eyes. "You lie. There is no way to bend the fabric of space and time itself. Mirage would have prevented his own death if such were possible."

"He would not. My father chose to usher in the age of Arxa because of the conception of a dragon yet to see the light of day. It is that dragon who is our savior, our only weapon against the might of a beast so strongly fueled by malice and dark magic," Tamli interjected with a sigh, recalling the many conversations he had with Mirage during the six years following his bodily death.

"You mean this dragon is not yet in the world?" A slight curiosity crept into Amia's voice and Tamli silently cheered over this small success in order to buy him time.

"Exactly."

A scowl slowly darkened the face of Amia. "So you suggest to me that you are-"

"Precopathic? Yes, it means just that."

"What does it mean for the future?" Amia asked as he took a step back, dropping his hand from Tamli's jaw.

"She dies."

Minutes passed before either spoke again, exchanging a flurry of mental thoughts between each other that they knew Finca would never be able to untangle -as she had been listening in all this time. Finally Amia sighed and let Tamli free from the mental hold before turning around to leave the room.

"Wait just a minute, Amia. Can I show you something?"

The question stunned the grief-hardened man for a moment. How dare Tamli ask those very words. Nor'ac had said the same thing nearly a day before his own death. He should rip out a bone or something to prevent Tamli from continuing on this mad idea of a divergence just to see the reaction.

"Do what you will. I have no control over your actions."

Tamli massaged his limp arm, wishing he could just let himself heal the wound. He needed to give off an injured look for just a while longer. With sure steps, he caught up to Amia and laid his "good" hand on the man's shoulder.

"As you wish," he muttered as a torrent of light from deep within him enfolded them both, much to the dismay of Finca who blasted the nearest object she could find into rubble.