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What's left? To own Tales of Graces of course! Sadly, I don't own Tales of Graces or any of the character included in the game. I do however own characters I create and of course the story I write here.

Chapter 6: Of loss and consolation

- Desert between Sable Izolle and the Rockgagong-sea -

It had been just like Asbel anticipated. After a long and tiring discussion with the Turtlez that gathered in Sable Izolle for trade and protection, Malik had finally managed to convince them for this extra mission. Or rather the Turtlez lending their mounts to the group. No amount of money would be able to get the merchants anywhere near the Rockgagong-sea with its huge amounts of potentially deadly monsters. Adding to that the new blue colored dragons that appeared with the bigger Valkines guardian and they had enough reason to decline any offer that involved them leaving the city. Also, the sum they had asked for was horrendous and had to be paid up front, like they were expecting to never see neither the group nor their animals again. The amount of money easily was enough to buy or raise three times the amount of turtles they were lending. Considering they were only lending them four turtles in total and that was even without the cabins on their back, it seemed quite impudent.

The only thing Asbel had not anticipated was that Malik would be able to finish the deal before dusk. Actually, he had managed to finish the deal barely past noon. Not wanting to waste any time they had prepared for departure shortly after Malik's notice and were ready to leave a mere hour later. Including Pascal and Hubert, later still showing his displeasure of the choice the group had made, though he did so mostly by only shooting angry glares at Asbel, who in turn did his best to ignore them by focussing on his mount. Lhant's lord would not act on his brother's feelings before the lieutenant had shown the true cause for his behaviour, just like he had agreed to with his wife.

That however did not mean he was able to stop from thinking during their traveling, even with his wife behind him on the turtles back to warm him to not think too negative thoughts. The discussion that would follow those thoughts as soon as she'd notice them was something he could very well live without. Despite this immediate 'danger' his mind started wandering while they left the city-walls behind them. Around them the landscape changed from fertile soil back to the more familiar sand with the occasional patch of quicksand and small greens on the sides. The sun also started to burn on their backs stronger than before, letting them feel the searing heat of the afternoon that the inhabitants of Strahta usually avoided by taking a break. Had it been impossible to sweat in the desert before, now they could. And they could do so very much, judging by the small amount of time it took for them to let the first sweat stains appear. It was a surprising discovery for Asbel because he knew it meant that Water-Eleth now was abundant in the air. But that discovery was not enough to distract him from his more worrisome thoughts.

Countless times he asked himself the questions that had accumulated since the day Barona had been destroyed: What was going on with Hubert? How could he find out when it was impossible to talk with him about it? How could he help him? How could he help Richard with his feeling of guilt? Would they be able to stop the dragons? Could he protect everyone just like he had sworn all those years ago?

He was lucky that he was steering the turtle in the back of the group, so the other members of the group and especially his wife weren't able to see his face. His feelings most likely were written all over it by now. However, something else must have given him away because not too long after he had started to increase his pondering, Malik steered his mount in his direction. He was the only one in the group without a partner on his turtle.

"Asbel, we need to talk"

The former instructor pointed on a spot behind him on his mount. Lhant's lord ignored the asking look of his wife as he handed her the reigns. Without saying another word he jumped from one mount to the other, graciously landing behind Malik and sitting down in one smooth motion. The older man smirked.

"Huh? I never knew they managed to get the importance of elegance under your skull back then in the academy."

Asbel raised an eyebrow at this remark, not sure if he should take the compliment or react to the joke on his costs.

"They didn't. I learned it through experience" he finally replied, a neutral tone to his voice.

"I guess you did." He looked at Cheria's turtle as he put distance between their mounts, making sure she was out of hearing distance. Once he was certain that she couldn't listen in on the conversation, he started to speak again, this time in a harsher voice he had often used as a teacher.

"I know this situation is taxing on you Asbel, but for the sake of all of us, get your act together! Concentrate on the task at hand and don't let yourself be distracted by your thoughts. I remember to have taught you this years ago, but you seem to have forgotten it. Doubting yourself now only weakens you on the inside, making the group as a whole more vulnerable."

His words were accompanied by an unnapproving glance over his shoulder at the lord. The pupil was caught off-guard. He hadn't expected an accusation from him of all people, especially not like that. Asbel's first reaction was being defensive.

"I...I know captain, but there is only so much I can do! My best friend drowns himself in guilt, my brother is mad at me for reasons I don't even know and the only thing I can do is watch! I can't rely on any of them to help me with what's wrong with them and both don't seem to be able to solve their problems! You can't expect me to just ignore that!"

His first reaction was strong and he felt like Malik was being unfair. But the way his teacher's look softened by his words made him wish he hadn't sounded so rash. His teacher waited a bit for Asbel short flash of anger to disperse, before he began to talk again, this time with a more calming voice.

"Asbel, let me tell you a story from my time in Fendel. Back then, I had a friend that used to do the same thing you do. Instead of talking honestly with the people he cared for the most about their problems, he tried to solve them for them. It worked most of the time, but in the end, he lost someone very important to him by lying to the person to get her to safety. He never told her why and she died in an attempt to spite him. He never fully recovered from it as far as I know. The last thing I've heard of him was that he still regretted not talking to her about it..."

His last words summoned the taste of lilac liqueur on his tongue. Silence spread between them until Asbel broke it with a question.

"Who was she to him?"

His question made the Fendelian man turn his head to watch in the direction they were moving. Had Asbel been able to see his former teachers face, the former pupil would have seen a painful smile.

"She was the person he loved the most."

Another small silence. Asbel felt small now in the presence of Malik. He knew he had no reason to, but there was something about the way Malik could act that made him forget sometimes that the Fendelian wasn't his superior anymore.

"So you want me to talk with Hubert and Richard about it..."

"If that stops your thoughts from running wild, yes I do."

His words were meant to be a pregnant finish to this conversation. But the effect was lost by what happened soon after he spoke them.

"...whoa, what on Ephinea..."

The turtle they were both sitting on had started to strain against the commands of the captain and did anything possible to avoid moving in the direction the captain wanted it to go. It didn't want to move any further to the sea. It sensed danger up ahead. How the turtle had gotten that impression however, the lord couldn't tell. There were no enemies in sight around them and he couldn't sense any otherwise, though his view at the front was obstructed by another sand dune. Besides that, it didn't look like there was any form of life in this area except them. The emptiness was almost unsettling.

While the lord of Lhant looked around he saw that the other turtles steered by Cheria, Pascal and Richard seemed to do the same as Malik's. He was just about to question the sanity of their mounts when he noticed the reason for the disobedience. Or rather, he heard it. Carried by the wind that blew directly in their faces came the muffled sound of heavy footsteps to their ears. Especially heavy if he regarded the fact that sand usually absorbed sounds like this, even from the heaviest monsters this desert usually had to offer.

And he wasn't the only one who heard them. Looking to his left he saw an awestruck Pascal muttering a few words to Hubert, who couldn't suppress a small smile hearing them. It was the first smile Asbel had seen on his face since he had met him in Strahta and it surprised the lord how much he had missed this expression on his brother's face. A further look around showed him that the rest of the group didn't look any different than Pascal: Confused, impressed and alarmed.

It seemed like the thing that made these steps hadn't noticed them yet, an advantage the redhead behind Malik didn't plan on giving up. Fully stepping into his role as a leader he pushed aside this small awkward feeling of telling his ex-mentor what to do and gave the muscular man a small tap on the shoulder

"Malik, lead the turtles out of hearing range and then come back with the others. We meet back here as soon as possible."

With a silent gesture he signaled the other riders to follow Malik. After dismounting he indicated the remaining two who didn't steer a turtle to do the same, which effectively meant Sophie and Hubert, and to move with him towards the sand dune. He couldn't help but notice his brother's looks at him while he did so. Hubert's glances at him still were infused with irritation and anger, but at least he was still level-headed enough to not act upon it at the moment.

The turtles were out of sight soon, leaving Sophie, Hubert and Asbel who crawled up the sand dune towards the origin of these heavy steps. On the way up Hubert was silently cursing because of all the sand that got under his uniform and stuck to his sweaty body. But at the sight of what was in front of them as he raised his head to look over the sand dune, this soon stopped.

A few hundred meters away stood a dragon. Though it was not one of the dragons, it was still a dragon, a terrestrial cousin of the flying wyrms that had attacked Barona in the company of the giant green beast. Pascal had said something about them being around before.

However, the body of this dragon was far more massive compared to the wyrms, relying more on his heavy protection with its hard, smooth-looking, pearl blue and shimmering scales to defend itself. They looked like they would repel any attack, regardless of how strong it was. The massive body was propped up by four equally massive, but short legs, each thick like a bundle of four palm trunks with claws that could easily decapitate somebody that got inside its range.

But what was most impressive about this dragon was its sheer size. A normal dragon wouldn't have surprised neither Asbel, nor Sophie or Hubert, though it was unusual for a terrestrial dragon to be in Strahta, which was far better known for its wyrms. They usually had the height of one and a half humans and were just as wide. This dragon however was twice as big as any other Asbel ever remembered seing. There were no questions anymore why the turtles didn't want to move on. Something like that would have ripped them apart even with their incredibly hard shells. It made Asbel question where such a thing could possibly obtain the necessary amount of food to stay alive.

As they watched the big reptile it took another few steps, directed towards the Rockgagong-sea. It had its back to the group, which most likely was one of the very few reasons the turtles had been able to sense the dragon before it was able to sense them. Crouching back down the sand dune, out of sight of the enemy, Hubert began to whisper, a slightly hectic tone mixing in his voice, his body trembling. If in fear, anger or another emotion, his brother couldn't tell.

"We have to slay this beast! We can't allow any of them to stay alive and be a potential threat for the people. No matter the cost, if we don't kill it soon, it will kill innocent..."

"Woah, calm down Hubert. I know what you mean, but I don't think we should be attacking it alone. Let's wait for the others for now. The pace this dragon is moving will give us a bit more time think of some plans."

His attempt to calm his brother didn't seem to work at first. But when Sophie supported her father by taking his hand it at least stopped him from trembling..

"Yes Hubert, let's wait for the team and make a plan. We can defeat it with teamwork"

Unrest shimmered in the eyes of the lieutenant even though Sophie's words softened the hard look on his face. His body language still showed some signs of protest, but Asbel knew that his brother acknowledged his thoughts and that they were right. However, the lord of Lhant did not ignore the way Hubert had suddenly become overly hectic and careless. He just added it to the list of things that made no sense to him about the lieutenant's behaviour. Something inside him couldn't wait to confront Hubert and finally find out what was wrong, but this could wait until later. After they had defeated the dragon and had some time to rest.

The list would just have to get longer in the meantime.

It didn't take long for the four turtle-riders to return to the sand dune they had departed from. The turtles themselves were safely secured at one of the very few remaining palms in the desert, a 15-minute walk away from them. Under the burning sun and far out of hearing range of the dragon that had stopped them, they started to develop a strategy.

"We don't have the time to make these tedious plans! We have to strike swiftly or the dragon will escape!" Hubert began, again with irritation in his voice.

Pascal by his side gave him a small look and Asbel wasn't sure if it was empathy or annoyance.

"Hubert, settle down. We have never seen a dragon like this before and you know that. Not even the monsters at Fodra's core were that big. We have to tread with care or we'll end up like corpses," the lord said.

His words were meant to remind his brother of the accusation the lieutenant himself had thrown at him only a few hours ago. It seemed to work, though it only managed to get him a scowl from Hubert. Before Asbel's brother could form an answer, Malik continued.

"Ok everyone, what do we know about dragons? The smaller ones have scales that protect them from Cryas-Artes, which means our most effective weapons are physical attacks. That means I, Pascal and Cheria won't be able to attack directly, but maybe we can distract it long enough for the rest to make a critical hit. They are slow, but deadly in their attacks, so we have to be quick. If we assume that this dragon being bigger also means that it's better defended, we should focus on few but stronger attacks. Any suggestions?"

It came as a surprise that Sophie was the first to answer, who usually didn't involve herself in tactic-planning. Something had to be different this time.

"I can do it. I can try to hit its weak spot, then everybody can attack!"

Malik raised an eyebrow but didn't reply. Instead, Richard continued her idea.

"Asbel and I will support you, Sophie. Malik, are you able to hold the dragon long enough so we can attack it?"

For a moment Asbel wasn't sure how to interpret his friend's initiative. It sounded reasonable to give Sophie back-up. On the other hand, it might put Richard in unnecessary danger. Unsure how to react he remained silent.

Meanwhile, the captain thought for a moment before he slowly shook his head.

"This beast is too big to be held down. I doubt I'll be able to do that. But I might stand a chance with others."

"Maybe Hu and I could freeze it together with you old man, that could totally work. And it would give Sophie the chance she needs to attack. How about it captain?"

Pascal either didn't care or didn't notice that her love didn't look pleased that she spoke for him, even if he didn't voice it. But then again, he looked irritated about nearly everything and didn't say why. Again Malik contemplated a while before an answer came over his lips, choosing to ignore Hubert's facial expression just like the rest of the group.

"That could work, if we give it the right timing."

Again Richard took over the initiative.

"I think we can agree then. Asbel, Sophie and I will attack the dragon, you, Pascal and Hubert will try to slow it down to the best of your ability."

The king turned to Cheria, who had listened to the discussion silently so far.

"Cheria, it would be of great importance for you to distract the dragon in the beginning until it is frozen. Your distance attacks and healing would be a great asset in the fight itself as well. Is that acceptable?"

Asbel's wife simply nodded while she tried to read Richard's expression without being too obvious about it. Ever since her king's breakdown in Gralesyde, she had started to share her husband's worries about him and paid more attention to his behavior. Just like Asbel before, she wasn't sure how to react to the king taking control of the planning.

"I suggest we don't waste any time then. Hubert is right after all, we are endangering innocent citizens by letting this beast live longer than necessary. We should strike before another person has to die," his last words were accompanied by a firm look in Asbel's and Cheria's eyes.

He couldn't completely grasp it, but somehow Asbel had the feeling that Richard had just told them between the lines that he had noticed their efforts to understand his motivation.

The execution of their attack was perfect. Nobody bothered with a try to sneak up on the creature which would've smelled them far earlier anyway. Instead, Sophie, Asbel and Richard charged with a battle cry. The other three stood not far behind them at the foot of the sand dune that had obstructed their view, the sun shining at their backs and dazzling their enemy. Swiftly they rushed through the sand, getting closer to the beast that faced them now. As a response the big dragon growled and began a tail spin. None of the three even acknowledged its movements just a fraction of a second before the tail would have hit them. It was as if time stood still. Not slowing down for one second Sophie ducked, Asbel somersaulted over the tail and Richard made an elegant roll forward. Then the three of them split up to move around the dragon.

As the tail moved away it revealed Cheria behind the first group of attackers, ready with several daggers she threw at the beast. For the fraction of a second, the small ocean of sharpened Eleth-recreations of her original dagger glimmered green in the sunlight before they hit their mark. None of the daggers aimed at the head hit, missing their target or being reflected by scaled eyelids, but several of the ones she threw at the body stuck and made the dragon howl an angry shout. However it wasn't a shout of pain, since the daggers didn't get past the outer scale layer. The anger of being attacked was enough for the dragon to shout.

Distracted by the female dagger-thrower the big beast didn't notice the first attack group getting behind it. What it did notice was the sudden stiffness in its joints and the sudden drop of temperature around it. Movement slowed around it while several big blocks of pure ice dropped continuously on it, mostly repelled by the scale-armor. Still, the impact managed to shake the massive creature and disorienting it.

"Sophie! NOW!" shouted Malik, his forehead covered in sweat by his struggle to continue the assault of ice blocks. Meanwhile Pascal drove away every little bit of heat around the creature with the support of Hubert, who infused his guns with frozen water-eleth to create ice wherever his bullets hit their target.

The ex-humanoid had finally gotten in the shadow behind the dragon who was staggering now under the constantly falling blocks. Without wasting any time she jumped towards it, performing a full spin before her right heel hit the creature hard on a particularly big scale in the neck. In perfect balance she used her left foot on the scaly-neck to leap away and land in between Asbel and Richard who themselves each attacked one of the tree-trunk-hind-legs with a heavy cut. Jumping back and besides each other they prepared their last assault. Both sword-fighters lowered their swords with the flat side upwards which allowed Sophie to jump on them. With muscles gained by hard training through years they swung their swords upwards and allowed Sophie to spring into the air, using the momentum of their movement to gain additional height and get above the dragon, avoiding the falling ice blocks while doing so. As the gravitation pulled at her with increased speed, she somersaulted again, adding the momentum of the circular movement to her kick and placed her heel again on the very same neck-scale she had struck before. An audible crack could be heard throughout the sands while she jumped and landed a safe distance from the beast, that let out a silent shout again before it collapsed and stopped moving.

Not a second later Malik dismissed his spell, falling down on his knees after he did so from the sheer strain of the Arte. Beside him, Pascal and Hubert were breathing heavily under the setting sun as the tension on them created by their own Artes slowly left them. Meanwhile, Cheria ignored all forms of grandeur appearance and ran forward to her husband and embraced him strongly. She couldn't stand seeing anyone she loved in danger, even if only for a moment. That part of her personality had never changed. Relief flooded through the group as they realized something.

They had done it, they had killed the dragon.

But one of the group wasn't satisfied with the way things had turned out.

"That was too, easy," the captain murmured to himself.

Something didn't feel right to him, he was suspicious. No plan ever went perfectly according to expectations. That's why they rarely helped and intuition was so important in battle. Carefully he scanned the creature lying in the sand far away from him. A curse got over his lips as he noticed that they had let their guard down far too soon.

"ASBEL! CHERIA! LOOK OUT!" was all he could yell at the top of his lungs before the supposedly dead dragon got up and used it's tail again. It was trying to hit the embracing lovers who were the only targets on the edge of it's range.

Time slowed and like so many times before, the wife was faster reacting than her husband. In an attempt to get him out of range of the attack she pushed Asbel away who only managed to shoot her a look of panic and utter betrayal as she stayed in the range of the attack, prepared to be hit. For a moment, it really looked like the lord of Lhant really would be safe. But then the sharp tip of the tail hit him, cutting deep over his chest and he fell into the sand, coloring it red. The horror of this scene lasted only shortly for Cheria, before the dulled side of the tail knocked her breath out and made her fly through the air, leaving her unconscious.

With a snort and something that had close resemblance to a groan the dragon stood up again, looking towards the small group of casters.

Surprise mixed with fear in Malik as he realized that besides the incredible anger in it's eyes nothing seemed wrong with the creature. He couldn't even see a scratch as it faced the Fendelian and his group.

As frightening as this change of situation was, something else was even more frightening.

"ASBEL! NO!" a drawn out yell of pure horror and pain rang out behind the beast.

The air around Sophie was crackling, heavy with power as she unconsciously focussed the every piece of Eleth in the surrounding desert. Her gazes was fixed on the motionless, bleeding body on the ground before it moved on to the dragon. In the fraction of a second, the horror and pain changed into fury.

"YOU! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"

Nobody could have stopped the humanoid as she started her assault. The distance she had walked in the small time she had thought her enemy dead was past her in an instant and her first punch ripped right through the leathery membrane of it's left wing. This was only the beginning. She wanted this creature to hurt, to feel the pain she felt, to beg for mercy. Her intensified anger had lowered a red veil over her eyes.

Jumping back and evading a claw that would have ripped her in half she began another attack, kicking at the left hindleg that seemed to be untouched despite the earlier heavy cut. Like that she continued her assault, energized by her raging fury, evading the slow attacks and landing a shower of kicks and punches that would have shattered any normal beings bones to dust. But its incredibly thick scales saved it from this fate, dampening the impact of Sophie's attack and reducing them to a barely unpleasant scratch to the beast. Regardless, Sophie continued, drawing the full attention of the beast to herself.

Malik knew that this could not go on infinitely. They had to act on something and they had to do so quickly or an attack would hit Sophie sooner or later in her frenzy. And retreat didn't look like an option. The situation didn't look good for any of them. Their resources were limited, he still wasn't able to cast any other complex Artes and they had just lost their healer and one of their front fighters, while the second one ran amok and the third stood still, shocked to see his friend in such a condition. Frantically he looked over the battlefield, analyzing their positions, trying to find something, anything, to work with, to attack a weak spot or prepare a powerful combo spell.

Had he not been so stressed he might have found it ironic that Sophie, the dragon and the camp of the three distance fighters were in a straight line, only Richard standing slightly apart. But this detail was overshadowed by a far more important one that he noticed while his eyes flew over the body of their enemy.

He had noticed a crack in one of the neck scales, supposedly where Sophie had struck the creature before. It was small and barely noticeable, but it was something he could work with.

"Richard! Help Sophie with evading the attacks! Pascal! Hubert! Ready as much of your ice-Artes as you can, I need you to cool down a certain spot on the dragon's neck as fast as possible. When I give the signal, fire at the spot that looks hottest to you!"

Without awaiting a reaction he prepared for his next attack. Closing his eyes to focus he channeled his remaining strength in this one last spell. This hit had to count. If it didn't, his friends would die. Blue flame's whirled around his Bladerang, changing it's cyan color to a just as bright glowing white that shone and seemed to compete with the sun. The heat around Malik had increased by a tenfold after a second, rising every instant he channeled further Eleth in his blade. But the old man didn't seem to mind. Then, the moment the magic became unbearable even for the Fendelian he finally threw it.

"Hey beast, try to endure this! Burning Calamity!"

As the Bladerang flew towards the dragon it set the air itself on fire, leaving a burning sea behind it. Just the moment before it was about to hit the head of the dragon, the beast turned towards the shouted words of the captain who stood behind it, allowing Richard to evade a claw that would have otherwise impaled him. The turn of the head made the Bladerang hit the exact place where the crack was and the blade bit deep into the scale. In a fiery explosion the heat that had been caged inside the metal was set free, enflaming the scale itself and even partially melting it. It ate through the scaly armor like Lava.

"Hubert! Pascal! Now!" Malik cried, followed by a growl of pain out of the throat of their thick-scaled adversary.

It only took a moment for Pascal and Hubert to combine their Artes. The heat of Malik's blade might have molted the armor, but the cold that followed froze everything in place in a just as extreme temperature shift. Icy bullets struck everywhere the heat of the Bladerang had reached while the air that had been previously burning started freezing right above the neck. The area that had been softened and melted by the heat was now cold and brittle. Again a painful growl echoed through the sands while the dragon finally ripped his attention off of Richard and Sophie and started walking towards the more painful threat, the three distance-fighters.

Still breathless from the strain of his earlier spell Captain Malik managed to shout the last command needed for his plan to succeed.

"Sophie! The neck!"

The exhaustion of the countless attacks seemed to have worn down the humanoid and her frenzy, because she understood what the captain meant the moment she heard it. A small glance and nod in his direction confirmed to him that she knew what he wanted her to do.

With a third battle cry she jumped on Richard's sword who gave her the momentum she needed, just like before, to get high enough above the dragon. This time however, she spun as fast as she could to add more power to her attack. Just when her rotary speed had increased to the point that her purple hair flowing around her white dress-armor began to blur into an ocean of purple and white, her heel struck the frozen scale on the neck.

The impact of her attack was strong enough to swirl up the sand around the big beast. Slivers of frozen scale flew past Sophie, cutting through her skin, before she jumped back and landed safely by the side of a heavy breathing Richard.

Clouds of sand concealed the dragon's body, making it impossible to judge if they had won. They had to. No creature could survive an attack like that, it's spine should probably be shattered to pieces by now. It had to be dead. It just had to. It had no right to live anymore.

Then the clouds started shifting and displayed what Sophie had feared the most.

In front of them, bleeding out of several superficial wounds on its body and tears in its wings was the dragon. But he was still standing. And now he was raging.

"No," was all Sophie could whisper in desperation.

This couldn't be! She felt her heart trembling as her intensified emotions let her feel despair and coldness to an amount she never had before. Fear froze her movement while the beast fixed its furious eyes on the girl who stood behind it. Quickly it turned again towards her and Richard, covering the distance between them with slow but big and steady steps. It had nearly reached them when yet another yell rang out through the desert.

"You. Will. Not. Harm. My. Niece! Have some of this! And some of these!"

Hubert, who looked the least exhausted out of everyone in the group, had sprinted towards the dragon and was attacking its tail with his dualblade, leaving small cuts everywhere he struck. The Eleth-channeling didn't seem to have exhausted him even nearly as much as Pascal and Malik who were barely standing at this point. The lieutenant would make the beast regret turning it's back towards him for the second time.

Elegantly he evaded a tail swipe by jumping on said tail and running over the extended spine to the place where Sophie had shattered the scales. Small puddles of blood crusted the edges of the hole in the armor and soft flesh was showing underneath it. Hubert displayed a cold grin. They had their weak spot. He raised his weapon.

"Take THIS!" he shouted and buried the tip of his dualblade deep in the soft spot.

The lieutenant could feel his sword pierce the spine of the creature, severing the vital nerve fibers that connected the brain to the rest of the body. Even if this blow didn't kill, he had paralyzed the beast.

A grunt escaped the mouth of the dragon before it fell down on its stomach, no longer in control of its own body but eyes still fixed on Sophie. It couldn't breathe and was slowly suffocating because of this. The dragon was able to give the humanoid one last look full of hatred before the last glimmer of life left it's eyes forever. An empty shell was all that was left by what once had been a majestic form of life.

- Lake Liberte -

A giant body broke through the surface of the lake. Pearls of clean water sparkled in the setting sun before they fell back. Just like everything around Lake Liberte it was beautiful if you paid attention to it. But the body that had just broken through the surface did not.

Duplemar felt the pain of his own; The despair it felt as it slowly suffocated, unable to command its lungs. The anger that it were mere humans that caused its death, that they were able bring such anguish to it; a dragon that was supposed to be invincible! Duplemar felt the despair and pain of the smaller dragon mix with sadness as its last thoughts went to his own origin. It wouldn't be able to serve the source of its life anymore and it had failed to protect the Rockgagong-sea according to its orders. The last thought Duplemar could feel were its sadness that it had failed its creator, the great dragon of water. Then the mind-link broke and only emptiness was left in its place.

An angry roar, just like so many others roars that could have been heard this evening echoed over the lake. Only this time it made the lake itself tremble. Massive waves rolled over the surface, made by the mighty wings of the blue dragon as it flew towards the Rockgagong-sea. The humans had dared to touch its own offspring. Even more, they had dared to kill it. Duplemar would see that they would get an appropriate answer.

- Desert between Sable Izolle and the Rockgagong sea -

"Light, come to me," Sophie mumbled, kneeling in the sand, the remaining part of the setting sun on her back.

Light gathered around her, flowed through her, warmed every cold corner in her body and tried to soothe her aching heart. Her eyes were closed in concentration to focus the light enough in her core before she channeled it through her hands. In a beautiful display of different colors it enveloped the body of her father that laid in front of her, stripped of his shirt and jacket to not hinder what Sophie was doing. For a moment, it looked like Asbel Lhant was not of this world as the light mingled with his aura and flowed through him. Inside him it spread the same warmth that Sophie had experienced, gently closing remaining wounds, relaxing the strained muscles and lifting his worries from him. The light flickered again, then it was gone.

Sophie let out a silent prayer before she dared to press a hand on her father's bare chest like she had done so many times before this evening. Carefully she examined what was left of the cut that had nearly killed Asbel. A sigh of frustration left her lips when she noticed the same thing for the fourteenth time that she had tried to heal him.

She had only healed the wound superficially. Under the layer of closed skin, where the tip of the tail had cut through, the lord's flesh refused to connect. It wouldn't kill him, but there was no way her father would be able to fight with them. Judging by the amount of muscles on his chest that the tail had cut through, her father would be lucky if he was able to stand and walk.

"Gather light of life," she began another chant to heal the wound. The results didn't differ.

"Sophie, leave it for now. We have done all we can and even you have to rest. Let's wait until Cheria wakes up, maybe she can do something."

The elegant steps of Richard were accompanied by his calming voice. He didn't hesitate a moment to take her hands in his as he kneeled down and looked her in the eyes, trying to convince those purple irises of two very important things; that she had earned a rest for now and that everything would be fine.

For a moment, she didn't move, didn't even breathe. Then she threw her arms around the man who was her older brother for a tight hug, who immediately hugged her back. Suppressed tears flew freely from her eyes and trickled down on his black cloak and jacket. Like countless times in the past she cursed the gift of the little Queen that had heightened every emotion that she felt. It was a curse and a blessing all the same.

It had been a wonderful gift at first. When they came back from their trip to Fodra, she had experienced every thing like she saw it for the first time. Joy unknown had filled her at the sight of her sopherias. The blue sky made her feel free like never before and all the other things she had barely noticed in the past now all had a new look to them. Especially the smiles she could see when Asbel and Cheria were looking at each other had made her heart sing. Everything around her had made her happy and in turn, the people around her were infected by her happiness and returned it.

But in exchange for this gift, her other emotions were intensified as well. Never had she felt so sad, insecure and terrified at the same moment in her past. Sad was she, because of all the people who were close to her and were now hurt, insecure about what to do and terrified of the outcome this journey held for her and her friends. The fear she had felt the moment the tail had cut through Asbel and hit Cheria had been a wave that had carried her away. The mere memory of it was enough to make her want to run away and she was helpless against these feelings inside of her. Cheria, her mother, had told her, that in time she would learn to deal with them. But this time was far away from her now. And in this storm of emotions, unable to deal with them and without both her parents, Richard was her anchor.

"Why can't I help him Richard? Why do the people around me have to hurt?" she whispered in his ear between her sobs.

She didn't know that her words caused a bittersweet pain in Richard's chest.

'Because it's my fault and I constantly fail to take responsibility for it.'

The thought stuck in his mind, but he tried his best to ignore it. He had no time to wallow in his self-pity. Not now. He had to be there for his little sister, she needed him.

"I can't tell you why Sophie, but you have no fault in this. Don't tell yourself that. Never do that. Sometimes fate just doesn't show us why certain things happen."

He held her and stroked her purple hair gently as she silently cried at his shoulder until she had no more tears left inside of her.

A cold breeze reminded her that she was still outside in a desert during nightfall and a fair distance apart from the campfire the rest of the group had set up. It was as far away from the corpse of the dragon as possible without moving Cheria too much. Sophie had insisted that nobody touched Asbel so she could immediately start to heal him. It felt like that moment had been hours ago.

It seemed that Richard was thinking the same thing, because not soon afterwards she could hear him talking again.

"Let's go to the others and get you some rest. There is nothing we can do for now and you look exhausted."

She released him out of her tight embrace and he helped her stand up. Richard gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before he set it free and they carried the motionless body of their friend to the campfire.

The king hoped that she knew that she wouldn't have to fight her inner demons alone.

What he hoped she did not know was that she wasn't the only one having them. A sigh left his mouth.

It would be a long night for all of them.

Remarks:

1: For anyone who wants to know what the heck Pascal said when they first heard the steps:

"Dude, those must be some heavy foots doing these steps."

2: Yes, I just invented a new Arte with "Burning Calamity" and the name's terrible. Sue me or suggest something ;)

3: Hah, remember that skit with Malik in L&L where Asbel and Cheria ask him why he's still a bachelor? Man, there are times I simply love my memory for reminding me of small details like that (I mean the thing with the lilac liqeuer)

Slightly bigger AN than usual:

Wuhu, wrote my exam, had a five-day-vacation by visiting a friend and still managed to write a bit of stuff. Sorry for the late update, as I said, I was a bit busy. Played lasertag for the very first time in my life, had my first visit to France and also had my very first grilling night near a river. As an exchange, I wrote my biggest chapter ever - 10 proud sites of pure story - !

Ok guys and girls, I wish to make the following official: Aespren very kindly accepted my request to beta-read 'The dragon's uprising' (I'll make that shorter in the future with DU, too lazy to write the full name every time). I'm incredibly happy to have someone to proof-read my stuff and tell me what I did wrong and just want to say another big fat official thank you for that towards her. Aespren when you read this, add this thank you to the others I wrote ;-)
You can actually see her influence on the first and second chapter at the moment. I already corrected a few mistakes there in grammar, spelling and style that were pointed out by him, though I'll add another paragraph here and there for more 'style-correction'.

On another note, I also want to thank the people that read this. I actually never thought my audience would consist of more than five people and was quite surprised when I suddenly saw that apparently a few more people than that decided that my other chapters were worth reading after seeing the first. So apparently, there seem to be way more than five people out there who read this story despite everything I thought. Thank you for that.

About the chapter itself...well, I didn't like this chapter too much, though I'm slightly proud of the outcome. The fight in the end was awesome for me, I love imagining and writing those. Though this time it was harder to include a full view on the battle situation when there are 8 people in total that can act and I want to include all of them in the battle. The entire fight itself was inspired by 'Frozen', I'm not entirely sure how myself. The scenes just came while hearing the music. Oh, and I loved writing the end of the chapter. Them feelings *_*

Another thing I want to add: I know it might seem like I'm attacking all of you with a spear on which is written "RICHARD AND SOPHIE IN LOVE!", but I'm not planning on a pairing like that. I just always had the feeling that Richard really saw himself in the position of an older brother/second father for Sophie, meaning that he cared for her really much, but more like for a child or a little sister. If my fantasy doesn't convince me otherwise, I won't write a pairing like that, though I keep the option open. I write an 'if' because my fantasy can do quite a lot of stuff. For example: I originally never intended to hurt Asbel or Cheria in the fight. Therefore, the last scene originally was never meant to happen. Stuff happens as I imagine the scenes and write them down.

And last side note: During the last four days I have not been lazy people! It took a while to correct chapter 6 and stuff, so I wrote a small side-fic-Oneshot to DU called 'The smell's uprising'. I'll release it as an external Oneshot as soon as I've corrected it. It's incredibly fluffy, read it at your own risk.

Anyway, see you next time with another Disclaimer, people ;-)

Update 17.04: Just put the last finishing touches on 'The smell's uprising'. You can find it under the stories I've published.