Tale of Storys.

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

So this man is the governor. It's no wonder this area is intact, it was well protected by those soldiers. The governor winces, expressing his discomfort. I hold the splint pressed ever so gently against his leg as I wrap it in a heavy bonding.

“What happened here sir?” I glance sideways up at him.

“A few hours ago there was a large tremor, then something that sounded like cannon fire. The grounds quaked and my chambers rattled. In fear, I fled underground to this room for safety. Shortly after my arrival, that pillar was dislodged from it's place and came crashing down on me. I have been pinned in this spot ever since. I assumed that everyone outside was dead and that I was most surely doomed.” His expression became cold and hard.

So, I was unconscious for several hours, the time with Yogensha seemed only but a moment, in the real world time had elapsed much more quickly... Who knows how much Vengeance had destroyed... I felt ashamed that I was unable to prevent any of this...

“Don't brood like it's your fault son,” the governor's words snap me back from deep thought.

“Shinkirou has been a a boiling pot of emotion as of late. Those loyal to the Dragon Campaign have skyrocketed in recent months.”

“Wait, what do you mean?!” I stand up.

“Before the great barrier that protects this city was created, we were terrorized relentlessly by the Dragons. After much pleading, they decided to leave us alone in exchange for Runestalz; our most precious stone. But by the time that agreement was set in motion, the barrier; Aegis had been completed. But it was too late, the higher ups in the Dragon Empire knew about this region, and preyed on any merchant or traveler who entered or exited the city, thus cutting our resources. We had no choice but to give in to the Dragon's tyranny. Now I have found out that there is a mole inside of our city, who feeds intel to the dragons. Apparently this mole has amassed allies, and they were plotting to overthrow the city, and hand us all over to the Dragons for immunity. I am guessing that all the cannon blasts are from the anti-dragon factions and the Dragon followers clashing...”

The governor grips the edge of his table and raises himself up. He hunches to the side, and shifts all his weight to his unwounded leg.

“No sir, I am sorry to say, but it was not factions that began this battle. Well, not both of them anyhow....”

“What do you mean lad?” the governor raises a brow.

“Since you seem to be an ally, to me, then I won't hold this information back...” I breathe in.

“My name is Tatsu, and I am a wanted “terrorist”. Somehow the people in this city caught wind that my allies and myself were in town, they turned to congregate against us, within two days of us being here we were attacked. One of my companions, changed, and lashed out at our attackers, and then moved to attack the entire city, I was unable to do anything, for I had fallen unconscious during the skirmish...”
The governor's mouth gapes in terror.

“You mean to tell me that one man caused all this?!”

I lean back, and fold my arms. “Would seem so...In any event sir, I think we need to get you out of here, I know of a safe place just outside the city, past the grove.”

I reach out to grab the governor by his forearm, but he pulls back.

“The grove?!” he shouts out, his face changes as if he had just happened up on a realization. “Yes, of course! It's Aisha, she's been caught speaking to the Dragons and giving them Runestalz, she was exiled to the forest, it must have been her who told the city folk that you and your allies were here!”

I am awe-stricken by his words.

“Tha-that can't be!... How could it...”

“Think about it son, you say you were attacked shortly after your arrival, did you meet with anyone in town other than Aisha?”

The governor grabs me around the shoulders.

“No...” I look down, I don't want to believe it.

“Well that settles it.... It was Aisha, the loyal slave of the Dragons!!”

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

“Governor, please keep such accusations to yourself, Aisha has been a most precious patron, she is nothing more than a fragile old woman, shackled to a fifty year old dilemma...”

“A facade! Her words are poison, just because she showered you with a smidgin of “kindness”, anything that beast does is to pursue her own faceless ideals! Don't be gullible.”

I mutter discontentedly. Grinding together my molars in annoyance.

“Look, governor, we are getting no where like this, now is not the time to bicker, monumental events are unfolding around us and we are having at the other, we need to reel in and focus.”

The governor nods in silence. “Please lad, just call me Yuu, and you may not like what you see, but I will show you the grizzly truths. Come, let us move to the grove. It's definitely a hike, and I am going to need your aid with this useless leg...”

“Alright Yuu... I'll take you to the house.”

I grab Yuu by his wrist and lead him out of the room, back through the gardens and to the streets.
Outside the majority of the flames had died out. Most of the structures have been reduced to heaps of melted rubble. The fire had nothing left to burn...

“My god....” Yuu cries out.

“It looks much more terrible than I had imagined!” He falls to his knees in despair, clutching at humps of dirt and stone.

“Sir, please, stand up...” I lean over, placing my hand on his back.

After a moment, he places his hand into mine and stands.

“Shinkirou...It has been my home for sixty years. It was such a marvelous hub of life. Now I can't recognize it anymore. There is just about nothing left here...”

“Yuu, please, we need to move on, it is not safe here, I do not know what could be out there. We might be attacked.”

Yuu doesn't say anything, he simply follows me out of the city, to the grove.

After awhile, the green of trees peek up from the horizon. The forest is intact, the fires never spread this far. We follow the old road, the only road leading in to Aisha's shack. Yuu pauses for a moment, and leans against a tree, breathing to regain a regular pace. “This is a lot of activity for one day...” he smiles, inhaling deep.” I look off past the road and into the clearing beyond...All is quiet in the grove. No sounds of birds, not even a breeze. It seemed too quiet.

“Aisha's house is just around this bend.” We move side by side, around the corner.

We were just about to approach the old shack when most unexpectedly, a massive tremor shakes through. The quake knocks Yuu clean off his feet, the governor falls to the ground. With outstretched arms, I establish balance.
I move to his aid, crouching to a stabilizing position, kneeling on one knee.
“It's okay sir.” Yuu is cowering with his hands upon his head, burying his chin in his chest.
I stand strong, and unsheathe Sora.
Continued rumbles, it becomes more violent... trees collapse off in the distance, something that sounds like a roar.... This isn't an earthquake, some sort of massive force is creating this.
This succession of events, the perfect set up for the appearance of a dragon....

“Sir! Take cover!” I swing my left arm back, gesturing for him to crawl his way to safety. “Stay away from any tree, for they may decide to topple upon you!”

“Finally!! SHINKIROU!!!” I hear a powerful voice, reverberating into the grove.

Then a massive shadow looms over, I direct my view overhead to see quite the unsightly sight.
A large dragon, with flaming wings hovers just above, the beating of its wings sends heat waves in my direction.

He lands hard upon the earth, the ground shakes again. He is quite the impressive looking dragon, much more fierce looking than any I have seen up to this point... Thick silver-ish armour is fitted around his head and torso, a crest in the fashion of a flame is etched into his headgear.

“I am Zanden!” He shouts out, “The most powerful of all of the Dragon Elites, my power is matched only by my lordships Leinurus and Thrandos, and our most beloved Queen! And you, you are Tatsu! The object of my vendetta!”

Well, this guy likes to make sure his opponents know who he is eh? Gotta make sure you know about that status... I roll my eyes.

“Don't roll your eyes at me you pathetic creature!” Zanden points a long claw at me. “You have been a nuisance to us for some time now, always managing to sneak your way out of our claws like the little rat that you are, but finally, I am given the honor to squash this squeaky rat!”

I don't say anything, I stand strong, and grip Sora tight. Zanden continues on.

“We finally find you, and this city at last, for years we have been working to take it down from within so we can lay siege...It would seem espionage is the ultimate form of warfare..” Zanden laughs at himself.

“Yes the barrier masked this place from us, but in the chaos that just transpired, we were able to take advantage and destroy the shield, but it would seem our work was done for us...A shame, I wanted to personally scorch these structures...Hopefully my right hand, Lyren, is having more fun in Asgard...AHAHA!” Zanden laughs again.

“What?! What do you mean!”

“Ahh, finally got you to speak up, ehehe, yessss, it is true, just as we set out for Shinkirou once the barrier was knocked down, I heard that my personal unit reached Asgard, my best soldier, the beauitful Lyren, she is a deadly thing, one of the most powerful warriors in the Dragon Army, she is an expert in fire, perhaps just as well as I....” Zanden smiles.

[SweetSuicide]

“Let me go first. I cannot die and I can find the strong points so you can cross easily.” I stepped back and let Kamikaze go across first. He moves so quickly and gracefully. It’s like he doesn’t even touch the wood as he went across. He turned back to me. “Okay, you’re turn.”
I took one step onto the remains of the bridge and the old wood creaked. My heart started to race. I looked down into the redness of blood and heads and bodies that lay under me. I shuttered thinking of how painful of a death they had all suffered. I had to look at the planks of wood to remember where Kamikaze had just gone across and found the strong points. I held my breath as I took another step. I heard the wood start to snap. I quickly hopped onto the next plank of wood. Then, without any warning, I heard the loudest snap in the world. The plank had given out under my weight. I started to fall into the bloody moat. Kamikaze grabbed my hands and tried to pull me up.

"Kam... I'm too heavy for you to pull up alone. Just let me go. I'll..." I tried to imagine swimming through the blood and floating bodies... "I'll swim to the edge and climb up."

He looked down at me. He had a fire in his eyes that I'd seen in Swift before. It was of determination and... Love? Compassion? "I'm going to pull you up. You are not going in there. I promise." I tried to see if I could reach the land on the other side but I was too far away. Kam got down on his knees and looked me dead in the eyes. "I will not let you fall or let you go. Ever." At that moment he pulled up with all his might and I was able to get my footing and help him once he got me up a bit more.

Kam stood up to pull me the rest of the way up and as soon as I was up fully, we both fell onto the castle grounds on the other side of the bridge into each-other’s arms. I looked at him. He had just helped me, like I had helped Swift. The more and more I stared at Kam, the more I saw Swift in him. My heart started to ache. We had only been separated for about 2 hours now but this was the longest since we had joined together that we had been apart. I had to push these thoughts out of my mind but I could not. I just stared into his eyes and was praying that things with Swift were okay. I stood up and brushed myself off and looked away. I heard Kam get up next to me and do the same.

I started walking into the castle. It was still in-tact pretty much. The table that was in the main dining room was still set. I called out to see if anyone was in here but nothing was returned. I stopped in my tracks and dropped my head. I knew we were too late but something still did not seem fully right in this place. “Maybe the people who survived are in the castle deeper, away from the danger. You cannot give up now.” Kam stood next me and took my hand. I could tell he was really trying to have me hold out any hope. We walked further into the castle. “Let’s split up. This place is huge. I’ll talk the upper levels and you take the lower ones. We’ll meet back here in 10 minutes and if we find something, great, if not, we’re getting out of here.” Kam nodded in agreement. It was a smarter move. We needed to get back to Swift and Tatsu. We were stronger when we all worked together instead of being so far apart.

I walked up the staircase and looked in the first two bedrooms. There was no sign of any life there that not even people had lived there when the town was alive. I kept walking further down the hallway. I heard a strange noise coming from one of the bedrooms at the end of the hall. “Hello? Is anyone there?” The sound went silent. I drew my sword and got ready to fight. The hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up. I knew this would not and could not be good. I crept around the corner to where the sound was coming from. I stopped. I had to fight back a scream. There was a dragon there. I took three steps back and ran into something. It fell and landed on the floor and shattered. ‘Stupid rich people having breakable things in hallways.’ I heard the dragon get up. I started to run down the hall and down the stairs. I had to find Kam. I ran as fast I could to get lower.

I literally ran into him as I hit the dungeon. “Kam... There’s a dragon in the upper level. I have no idea how big or what type it is. All I know is that judging from the destruction of the town… It’s a fire dragon.” I dropped my head. “I knew that we were too late. It was pointless for us to even come here. Now we’re just both in danger. This is my entire fault. I need to face this dragon alone.” I looked at Kam and kissed him. “If you can get this message to Swift, tell him I did this for him. If I don’t make it out alive… Go back there and fight with them taking my place.” I gave him one last hug and then walked back up the stairs.

What I saw standing there was the biggest dragon I have ever seen... 'Oh boy...'

[CoolNard]

Kamikaze

“Kam... There’s a dragon in the upper level. I have no idea how big or what type it is. All I know is that judging from the destruction of the town… It’s a fire dragon.” Suzette slumps her head grimly. “I knew that we were too late. It was pointless for us to even come here. Now we’re just both in danger. This is my entire fault. I need to face this dragon alone.” She eyes me determinedly and kisses me. “If you can get this message to Swift, tell him I did this for him. If I don’t make it out alive… Go back there and fight with them taking my place.”

The magnitude of being emotionally pressured is proportional to the importance of the pertaining event. The shock of Suzette's resolution and the fear of losing her momentarily constricts me.

What? Before I can stop her, Suzette flings her arms around me; a combusting romance, all the more fleetingly so. And the woman I love takes flight up the stairs, charging headlong into the abyss of death.

She's doing 'this for him'? For Swiftant? Why do I have to fight alongside Swiftant in place of whom I want to be fighting with? No way... No way am I giving her up for him, not after already losing her now!

"Do it, then..." A rather tenuous voice rings in my mind.

Who's voice is that?

Do it.

Swiftant..? What are you-

You know what you have to do, and you have my assurance.

"Zap Execution." Normally, lightning gets absorbed into the ground via buildings, bypassing the contents within. As in the natural, initial processes of lightning formation, opposites attract. By relinquishing a forced output of enlarged positive charges, I have the ability to directly, not just trace, but alter the tracks of negative electricity discharged from the clouds, thereby sustaining a homing trail of lightning. Synchronizing the user's otherwise inherent timeframe with the speed of light, a lightning flash to the seemingly human eye would be akin to eleven and a half days to me. Adding to the fact that even as an electric user, I'm not completely invulnerable to lightning as a toned-down soul of Swiftant; my skin would be burnt to a crisp in three flashes, though I'd be left with a thin thread of survival odds. This move deeply scars the user physically and mentally, in a flesh-by-flesh slow and arduous torture.

Do it...

A blinding light decimates the roof of the castle and hits me hard, forestalling whatever actions Suzette has planned. In hindsight, I was probably only trying to envelop myself in debilitating pain with which my shock could be superimposed. And, Swiftant had given me his assurance - his guarantee in Suzette's life and my skill.

"I didn't do it because you told me to..." I cripple to the ground.

"Kimi... nari... Edge." I have to jolt my already electrocuted heart from slowing or collapsing. My sakkat and armor pads lie in charred rags. Streaks of maroon trickle down my eyes, not from the anxiety, not from the excitment, not from the regret, even though my regenerative anatomy works unreservedly to fasten the seam on my head, which had been impaled in a split second... Damn... It seriously hurts... But... That eleven days are... Nothing to it... Swiftant... I've always visited the devil and come back more than alive.

Convoluting my muscles to jerk my line of vision upwards, from the depths of the disintegrated castle top, I see the dragon of flames grunting in pain and spasms assaulting her body. She obviously has taken quite a moderate hit, which would have been a straight strike, if not for her fiery hide. Out from the darkness, I make out a glint...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Swiftant

“Ahh, finally got you to speak up, ehehe, yessss, it is true, just as we set out for Shinkirou once the barrier was knocked down, I heard that my personal unit reached Asgard, my best soldier, the beauitful Lyren, she is a deadly thing, one of the most powerful warriors in the Dragon Army, she is an expert in fire, perhaps just as well as I....”

"Hmph, I don't think so, Zanden." I rise from the ashes, much to Tatsu's unamusement.

I hold Shinkirou's once luminiscent commander by his throat, feeling him swallowing in a bid to get air down his lungs. At the last minute, with Vengeance's reflect-affliction ability, the damages dealt to me were repaid in full to the commander and his top officers. Vengeance has come and gone, and I have decided against lopping off the commander's head and plucking out his spine. Although disarmed and dishonored, he has still a family - a gasping kid with a tear-streaked face, who had always thought the world of his undisputed father, 'til now it appears. All in all, an impressive feat to even touch an enhanced me. With Kamikaze out of my system, my injuries aren't going to heal anytime soon.

"How long were you planning to stay under, Swift?" Tatsu reprimands curtly.

"Just until you slay the fire elite, but he said something he shouldn't have."

"Heh, I'm not about to be presumptuous, though his words got to me, too."

"Well, one of his dogs," I lead on. "Lyren, or whoever she is, should be writing her will now."

"Ha ha ha... Ignoramus, your arrogance precedes you," Zanden snorts heavily. "Notwithstanding, your girlfriend has no chance against Lyren. Why? That's because... If not for Lyren's slothful nature and disobedience, she would likely have been... My replacement!"

"That is..." Tatsu begins.

"Going to be a very good test of Suzette's bonafide powers," I finish. "All of you, Suzette included, underestimate her latent dragon strength. How do you think she was able to become a dragon spy, fighting for both her survival and silencing suspicions with an iron fist?"

"Regardless of who her parents are, half of her is of dragon heritage. Then, Suzette doesn't yet know her own strength, does she?" Tatsu whispers to me in alarm.

I smirk teasingly. "I have absolute trust in her, and my other self. It's all been seen to. I don't like two-on-one, so she might even wrap things up there before you're done with Zanden."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kamikaze

Out from the darkness, I make out a glint... Suzette wields her...!?

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

"Hmph, I don't think so, Zanden." Swiftant rises up from the bramble and debris, holding onto to resistance commander. The man was barely alive, hanging on helplessly. His gloves gripped onto Swift's forearm as he squirmed in vain to free himself from his captor.

Without moving my neck, I get a glimpse of Swift out of the corner of my eye...I was still disappointed with how recent events panned out. I was supposed to stop him from going haywire. He has expunged Vengeance for now. But who knows how long it will be until another surfaces?

Swift goes on to indulge Zanden. He wants to derive intel from us. I won't become his pompous witness...

A moments pause.
I sheath Sora. “I won't stain my blade with your blood. Sora's heart is too pure.
“Afraid I'll snap your play toy?” Zanden laughs to himself. “How about you just give me the sword?”
Zanden smiles, all fangs.
“...I'll have to disregard that offer, and present you with disdain.”
I clasp my hands together, and unleash a fusillade of rolling waves at Zanden, for but a moment he was left dumbfounded by such a quickly executed attack of this caliber... I didn't even have to write a symbol upon my hand....This was another test, and to try such an act during a battle of this caliber was taking a huge risk.

Haphazardly, Zanden releases a ball of fire at my wave, the two collide head on, and explodes into a hissing fog cloud. Just what I hoped....I think to myself. The cover of fog is on my side. As I prepare a second wave, Zanden quickly counterattacks, and sends off two more blinded blasts....He doesn't know my location, he hopes to hit me in this manner? How sad.

I rush forward my both my hands down by my side, turning my palms inward, I focus energies into my fingertips, my hands glow under the concentration of gathering magics.

I clap my hands together, and then quickly release them, pushing them off of each other towards the direction of Zanden, the fog begins to subside, and a violet ball of light flies straight at Zanden at a high speed. Light trails over the grove, and races towards the target.... Just as it was about to hit its mark.

Dragonstyle: Immolation! Zanden opens his mouth wide, and shoots off a swirling ball of molten lava.
As before, our attacks greet each other headlong...This time though, there was a massive explosion. I held my ground, but I heard Yuu yell out as the discharge sent him soaring through the air. He landed hard on his side. His cane went in the other direction.

“Yuu! Hang on!” I spun about and used the sensory-teleportation to instantaneously move to Yuu's position. “Sir, are you alright? ...No response, he wasn't doing well, the grimacing expression on his face said it all.

Zanden took this opportune moment to send more attacks my way.

Dragonstyle: Burst of Fury ! Zanden sent off 3 simultaneous infernos in my direction, each bigger than the last. I grabbed Yuu, and I made a dash for it, back to my previous position, but as my feet dashed across the grass, Zanden turned his claw to the right, and his blast did the same through the air, and honed in on me, I dug both my heels into the ground, squatted down, and went to the left. With his other claw he motioned for the two other blasts to come from the left, and straight on.

A Pincher attack.... I pushed off from the ground and jumped straight up into the air, Yuu hung on to me for dear life. The two blasts coming in from the left and right met with impact, and exploded the grove below, a crevice formed, and rock and earth fell into it. Some fog still loomed, as I started to fall back towards safe ground, Out of the mist, Another blast was coming at me, as well as his third attack. He had some countermeasures in place, he had planned for the fog as well, and took appropriate action... I couldn't retaliate with Yuu on me, the best I could do, was launch the old man into a nearby tree, as I fell, I drew up my knees, and took out Sora, with some luck, I dug Sora into the ground, and landed on top of the handguard, standing straight up, pierced in between two bits of rock. The blast that was coming straight for me I was able to dodge, just barely. I felt the heat of it, as it zoomed by me. The other blast though wasn't aimed for me. It was for Yuu, and it trailed after him, hurdling towards the tree I tossed him in. There was no way I was going to get to him in time, I concentrated, hoping in vain I could materialize by his side, but it was for naught, that spinning ball of flame smashed into that tree, wood and branch crackled and popped, and there was a massive explosion. The entire forest in the immediate area was set ablaze. I kept my wits about me and laid my hands on the soil, a wall of water rushed up and covered over me. Shielding me from the explosion....

The water subsided, I was drenched, but it was worth it, and Zanden was in the middle of that inferno. I sat in shame, I wasn't able to protect Yuu, I keep failing....Zanden laughed uproariously.

[CoolNard]

"What's the matter, Tatsu?" I question his limp stature, subjugating Zanden's uncouth noises of delight. "Don't tell me your advanced elven magic can't even handle commanding a couple of legendary supernatural creatures over time and space, and take on one of the strongest dragons, altogether?"

Tatsu peers up at me and relief washes over his face immediately. A sphere of ice encloses Tatsu's friend and me, freezing the tree and the atmosphere within a radius of five metres. My eyes are purple due to the natural blueness of Frost's barrier and the excited, scarlet state I have to conjure and sustain in myself, required to 'Unleash' Frost. Arctic Globe. With this defense, no mediocrity like that can pass through.

Zanden is incredulous. "What?" He exclaims, in denial that a direct attack from him could be stopped so efficaciously.

"Seems to me you've only tapped into half your powers, Tat!" I smirk, ignoring the fiery abomination.

"No, I've actually spent less than half," he corrects me, grinning back.

I am confounded. "Isn't this fellow a friend of yours? You didn't even try to protect him!"

"That's because I knew you were there! I'm still testing my limits and it'd be otiose to use anymore strength against a dragon of this level.., Although I'm quite disappointed that I couldn't protect him myself with this amount of skill. I still need training," he adds in an afterthought.

"Well, next time warn me a little ahead of time?" Even if it'd make no difference. I think to myself. "Incidentally, Tat, I've knocked your friend out so he wouldn't have to suffer from the pain."

"That's fine with me, the coldness ought to numb the governor's aches, too!"

Are my ears going bad? "The what?"

A fire ball suddenly hits and erupts into a miniature volcanic blast at the base of the tree, on which I am harbouring the governor. Its roots dissipate into splinters and the tree bends over, unable to hold its own weight. The ice sphere with us inside plunges downward. It is completely flawless in its making - physical isolation - there is no wind tugging at our clothes or twigs flying at us as the tree is dismantled by flames; the air is stagant with only the sunset orange from the flames refracted through the ice, almost blinding me. For the same reason, our body inertia is the only thing Arctic Globe cannot manipulate. With one arm around the governor, I stretch my limbs to steady myself on its inner surface, as our footing leaves the trough of the sphere and the top nears us, and begin counting the seconds it will take for us to hit the ground. A spread of fire over grass, like butter over bread, lay beneath us, impatient to consume our tragic fates. I dig my nails into the ice and hold my breath.

"Guess it's outta the pan and into the fire, huh?" I told the unconscious governor. "But... Hell would freeze over if that happened!" Arctic Globe has already set into my expectations. Five metres above the ground, it has frozen everything within range. It is sitting on frozen air and atmosphere. The silhouettes of the blazes below spike up motionlessly, cold and dead. Beyond the five metre boundary, the fires lick the ice in futility.

"What do you know? Hell did freeze over on my first try!" I declare in triumph, pleased with the results of my first maneuver of Arctic Globe.

"Are you crazy, betting on a first-timer with your lives at stake?!" chides a hysterical Tatsu.

"Hmph, right back at you for before!" I reply, equally raving. But smiles are listed all over our faces despite the cold sweat. "Eight seconds... That's how long it took for a five metre sphere to reach the ground. You singlehandedly threw this poor guy up forty metres!"

"Right back at you, you singlehandedly dragged him down the same height!"

"ROAR!!" Zanden screams, enraged by how underrated he is. Swirls of ignited gas spiral around him. "Enough of your frivolous foolery! This ends, NOW!"

[SweetSuicide]

I looked at the dragon and said a little prayer. “Whoever is up there.. I’m begging, pleading with you. Let me get out of this alive. I know that may not be what you have planned but please.. I love Swift. I need him. And he needs me. Let me get out of this somewhat alive and I’ll prove to him I’m a girl worth keeping.” I closed my eyes and for a second I swore I saw Swift. Fighting next to Tatsu, alive and okay. It looked as if a war had just taken place. I opened my eyes and looked at the dragon from around the corner. I raised my sword and turned to face the dragon head on. I sighed. It was now or never. The dragon had its back toward me.

“Come here dragon! I want you to fight me and face me! I want to see your eyes while I fight you!” That made the dragon very anger. She turned around and faced me just like I had wanted but what I didn’t expect to see was her. It was Lyren. She was the one dragon who had tried to kill me years ago. I had forgotten how big and majestic she was. Although she was a fire dragon, when she spoke her words were like ice that pierced me.

“Suzette. How wonderfully dreadful it is to see you again. I thought I had gotten rid of you years ago.”

I raised my shirt to show my stomach and the burn scars that she had left on me. “No, you didn’t kill me. Only left some great story scars.” I raised my sword a bit higher now. “I want to finish this once and for all.” I took a step towards her, but as I did this great bolt of lightning came from nowhere and hit her. She got a good blast from it and she was injured badly. I ducked down from the lightning in fear of getting struck myself. But instead, I felt this new power, this new feeling, building up inside of me. I could feel myself somehow starting to grow and change. I fell over in pain and agony. This was getting to be unbearable. I blacked out for about 30 seconds. They seemed to have lasted forever because of the pain. But as I came to it I felt, different. I regained my bearings and looked around and realized what had just happened. I had become one of them. I was now a dragon. I looked at myself up and down. This was incredible. I should have known I was part dragon from my mother but I never thought of trying to control it and morph like she had. I turned and faced Lyren.

“Now, it should be a bit more interesting of a battle!”

I was still trying to figure out what kind of dragon I was when she attacked me. I was thrown into the castle wall. I hit it full force and that made me realize I needed to act now before something worse happened. I whipped my tail around and hit her right in the chest. Not a fatal blow but it bought me some time since she was already injured. I came right at her and hit her back into the wall. The wall broke and we both went tumbling out of the new window we had made. I tried to grip onto the side of the castle as we went down but I couldn’t catch a break. Well, now was the time to see if I could fly. I started to move my arms but was really flapping the huge wings that I have never known I had before. They created a huge gust of wind and lifted me higher as it pushed Lyren down farther. “So I’m a wind dragon huh? Okay, I can make this work.” I started to beat my wings harder and harder. The air around me became almost like a tornado. I saw Lyren get swept up into it and I took a deep breath and blew out and sent the tornado flying miles away with her inside of it. She crashed into the side of a cliff and fell to the ground. I flew over to her now motionless body. I changed back into human form (again very painful and needed some work now that I knew I could do it). I grabbed my sword and walked up to Lyren.

“You thought you could beat me once, and you failed. So why did you think you could a second time?” I raised the sword above my head and slammed it down into her skull. I heard the bones breaking as I drove the sword deeper into her skull. Never again would she bother me.

I started walking back toward the castle but Kam was already on his way out to meet up with me. His face was a mix of shock, pain, and disbelief. He spoke to me first. “This is gonna make a great story to tell everyone when we get back.”

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

"ROAR!!" Zanden screams, enraged by how underrated he is. Swirls of ignited gas spiral around him. "Enough of your frivolous foolery! This ends, NOW!"

The fire dragon's posture is tall and strong, he cranes his neck back, and stretches out his oversized wings. He is clearly accumulating a force inside himself. The fire of his wings creep inward, and enkindled his flesh. His entire being became one colossal ball of fire in the form of a dragon. That hellfire rendered the majority of the grove to bits of black ash. Yellow, orange and white flames licked and hissed the defiled husk of the earth. Two green gems gleamed in the fire, all had been consumed but his emerald eyes.

I dig my hands into the cool mud, grabbing up chunks of moist earth. This exhibition of power demonstrated by a dragon had never been so distinguished before. Well, except for Akuma. I've only clashed with an Elite once before....It was Xephon, the harbinger of Ice...And I didn't exactly defeat Xephon at that time either. Akuma intervened and rendered that vile fiend into a fine dust.

I was making the mistake of not properly gauging his tenacity as a soldier. As it was, I was being afflicted by Yogensha's power. It was a foreign article within me, and my body was rejecting his power. Sending my fighting prowess into a fit. At one point my abilities were skyrocketing through the stratosphere, and then next it plummeted to a depth as the deepest trench in the ocean.
Nevertheless, these incidences were simply the result of unpreventable events, and I must simply deal with that was handed to me, and play the game accordingly.

I stand straight, my boots dig deep into the mud, Zanden's blaze gains mass, a beat of his wings send a wind of fire across the field. Another beating of his wings, and fires swirl around themselves, blowing a series of miniature fireballs from the inferno around him. The blaze, mixed with wind morphs into a funneling tornado of fire. A turbulent gust blows through the grove, uprooting trees, and sucking them up into the eye. I dash back, flipping a few hundred paces away, and land safely onto a tree branch. This was one unfavorable moment where my abilities reached an all time low. I pressed my hands together and then laid them upon the smooth wood of the tree. I focus my energies through my chest, out of my fingertips and into the bark of the tree. The old oak hummed with pure, clear light. I manage to accelerate the growth of the tree's roots, several hundred times over. They twist through the ground, and blast through to the surface. The oak grows several meters in height and diameter. It is the tallest tree in miles, and will be the perfect catalyst for a final attack. The roots head for the sky, bringing up bits of granite and boulders with it. In no more than a minutes time, a wall of stone and earth had been erected, nearly as tall as the oak.

Energies surge, as I poke at Yogensha's gargantuan stamina. The vehement tornado walloped into the earth wall. Clasping my hands together roots moved up and blocked the wind from overlapping and rolling off the sides of the wall. Zanden's head and wings were bent forward and down, as he discerned the elemental clamor before him. He as well concentrated, and his fire grew even greater, this stand off quickly became a battle of will. Who could hold off longer? Who could push forward the hardest? Sweat rolled down my brow while blood trickled down my chin from biting my lip too hard. My wrists and hands were shaking from pressing them together so strenuously. I grew new stronger roots from the tree, and placed them at the back of the wall. Pushing that seventy something foot barrier at Zanden. His tornado slowly receded as the wall closed the distance to Zanden. He growled and grunted, but his struggle was fruitless, he took a deep breath and the tornado vanished as quickly as it had formed. The wall was still pushing forward incredibly hard, but that tornado was no longer there to be a hindrance. Then, while the wall was pressing forward at an incredible rate, I finagled the roots to break the wall into numerous pieces, with no obstruction, a wave of stone and earth smashed headlong into Zanden. Zanden was sent flying backwards, and he crashed hard yards from where he was standing. Where he fell I could see Aisha's shack behind in the distance. It was so close.

“It's over Zanden! Die!” I shouted out into the sky. I had to end this now before he discovered Aisha's home, and set a match to it. The tree grew more, to an unnatural state. It stood a hundred and fifty feet strong, it consumed the entire grove, roots and earth broke up from every corner. I jumped off, roots came up to meet me, as I ran forward through the sky, roots rose up to be my stepping stones. Zanden had recovered and was flying at me, “how dare you!!” he bellowed. NOW! I exclaimed, The earth below Zanden opened wide and the roots of the tree reached high and grabbed the fiery dragon right out of the air, his shield of fire was still in place, over his entire body. The roots caught fire, but I planned for that. Water exploded forth from that chasm in the earth. It doused Zanden's flame. He was losing power, for his fire was the source of his prowess. His shield vanished. Not even his wings were ablaze, which were so naturally. Rock met his head, and he fell to the ground once again...The dragon lay unconscious, near death....I gasped for air, and shrugged off my blurred sight. I laugh out loud, pressing on my knee to stand upright. And sigh a deep breath.

[SweetSuicide]

I started slowly walking back toward the castle but Kam was already on his way out to meet up with me. His face was a mix of shock, pain, and disbelief. He spoke softly to me first.

“This is going to make a great story to tell everyone when we get back.”

We looked at each other and didn’t speak another word after that for some time. It was a great deal of new discoveries to comprehend. This turn of events now made the final battle a little more realistic. If we were going to eliminate the entire dragon army it was good to have Kam and now the newest addition to this equation, the ability to transform into a wind dragon. The silence seemed to last of an hour but it was only a mere amount of minutes. I guess I was so lost in thoughts and trying to figure out what had now come to change in my life that I didn’t realize that Kam had walked over to me. He took my hand in-between his and gave it a slight squeeze.

“We should get back to everyone else. They’ll be wondering how we are.”

His voice said we had to leave but his eyes said he wanted to stay here and not have me go back to Swift. It made sense too. Kam had been here during the battle, he had been here when I turned; not Swift. I knew once we all got back together things were going to change drastically. I picked his head up a little and wrapped my arms around his face. It was all sorts of discolored and had burns all over. I kissed his cheek to show him that it was him who was here not Swift.

“You’re right. Let’s get going.”

He wrapped his arms around my sides and hugged me. A sharp pain struck me instantly. I crippled over on the ground in pain. I automatically grabbed my hands to my side. I pulled one back and saw my hand was covered in my blood. Kam kneeled over me and looked at my hands.

“Let me take a look.”

He tried to pull my shirt up and look but I hit his hand away.

“I’m fine… Please.. Let’s just go..”

I tried to stand up again but the pain was just too unbearable. I collapsed face first into the ground. It was still wet from the past blood shedding battle that had happened. And now my blood was becoming part of the soil, just like the blood of so many others had. I could smell the mix of blood and soil crawling its way up my nose. I tried to turn myself onto my back but I couldn’t move. I felt like I had become paralyzed. What was going on? I turned my head to the side and called for Kam.

“Kamikaze… Go back to the others. Leave me here. They need you more than they need me.”

I could barely talk now. I was losing blood quickly and I could just feel myself slipping away. Kam knelled down next to me and brushed the hair out of my face.

“I’m not leaving here without you. You mean too much for all of us.”

I felt his arms wrap around my shoulders and slowly and gently pull me up and flip me over at the same time. The pain from my side shot throughout my body. My breath was taken away from me. The world started spinning like someone had taken my body and threw it into a blender and put it to high. I closed my eyes to stop the spinning..

[SweetSuicide]

I felt his arms wrap around my shoulders and slowly and gently pull me up and flip me over at the same time. The pain from my side shot throughout my body. My breath was taken away from me. The world started spinning like someone had taken my body and threw it into a blender and put it to high. I closed my eyes to stop the spinning...
I opened my eyes and there was a bright light. I lifted my hand to shield my eyes. I couldn’t see anything except this white light. Shit, I thought to myself, I died... This wasn’t supposed to happen this way. I was supposed to die fighting with my friends. Dying to save them. Not this way. ‘But you didn’t die’ a voice responded. It was Swift. My heart started to race. He was lying next to me. I blinked a few more time and I realized where we were. We were back at the cave where we first met and tried to kill each other. We were facing the sky looking up into the sun. I put my hand down next to me and I felt his hand.
“If this isn’t real, and I’m not dead, what’s going on here?” I was generally confused at this current situation. This had to be a dream. He was two hours away from me and the cave was in another land. There was no physical way this could be. I turned onto my side to look at him. And there he was. It was Swift.
“This is a dream, in a way, my love.” His voice was calm. He did not look at me just yet. I could tell in his face he was trying to find the right words to say. “This is an alternate world. A world where there is no war and no fighting. A world of pure peace and joy. This is our world. Or, I should say, our future world. After the wars are over, and we win the final battle, this world becomes ours. There are going to be lives lost along the way to get here but that will come at a later time. Right now, what matters the most is what you have just found out. You are part dragon Suz and you can change into one of the strongest dragons out there.” Not once has he looked me yet… “Things are going to get darker before they can get to this point. But you must know, your mother is a trader. She told of us coming and of our plans. She had us all fooled. Her loyalty was to the dragons. You mustn’t be mad at her. She did not know it would get to this point. But, alas, it has gotten worse than we had planned. Now, I need you to do something for me.” He finally looked at me. It wasn’t Swift. It was Guntros. I could finally for the first time in a while see the man I had fallen in love with. I knew it wasn’t Swift because Guntros eyes. They were the brightest green I had ever seen. I knew this was the true man I loved but I had not seen him before.
“What is it Guntros?” It felt weird to say his name. But it rolled off my tongue and sounded right. Like that was the name I should’ve been saying all along. He leaned up and towered over me so the sun was totally blocked by his head. I could see in his eyes this was not going to be the last time I would see his eyes.
“You, and you alone, have to kill Aisha. I would never tell you this if I knew you could not handle it. But the only way to win this war is if you defeat her. The fate of the world rests on your shoulders Suz, but, you will not be alone. The friends you have will be there but you have to be the one that kills her. For if someone else does, you will die.” His eyes dropped and looked at me over one last time. “I love you Suz and it is for that reason I tell you this. You have to succeed. There is no other way.” He leaned down and kissed me. Before I could say anything to him, he was gone. I was alone in the cave. I knew what I had to do… But to kill my own mother? I could not think of that just yet. But I had to tell the others. I closed my eyes and drifted back into this sleep..
I awoke to find Kam standing over me. The look of fear in his eyes was as clear as day.
“We have to get going. There’s no time to explain but my mother is a trader.” The sudden will to get up and fight motivated me to jump up and almost knock Kam over. “This is war now.”