The Elemental Chain Saga Book Two: Dragons Ascending

Chapter Thirteen: Desolation

Sybil brushed her hands across the cold metal as she stepped over a body that was draped across an iron bar. She fought tears, fought to keep her gaze forward. Fought to stay sane.

Like puddles after the rain, the ground was covered in blood, the blood of the guards who had tried so desperately to protect the castle from the intruder, to protect her from one entity. The single intruder. It seemed insane.

How had she not heard the fight? How had she not seen the eminent destruction of the so-called indestructible gate?

Who had done this, she wondered, thoughts swirling around in her head as she walked through the sea of death and carnage, heading towards the valleyed path that led up to the castle. What force of unnatural strength had wrought the earth in such a way? It seemed impossible that the gate had fallen in the middle of the night, and none had heard it crash to the ground. None save those who died, that is, for none had lived through the ordeal. They had died for her, each giving their lives in service to the heir of the Alererdreamian throne. But as she looked at the ground, the whole of the area a horror scene of twisted metal and broken dreams, she wished she had been killed and they had lived, for none deserved this.

But she was alive, for whatever reason and them now gone from this place, family and loved ones unaware that they had perished, been slaughtered mercilessly. And she was here, walking alone through the desolation, the ruins of their final, pointless struggle.

And their killer still lived, still breathed this air, something those poor soldiers would never do again. She brushed her hand across her moist eyes. Who or what could be so relentless, so destructive? She had a hunch. One she dared not voice , in fear she was correct.

She brooded about how she had spent the morning. She had embraced Lloyd for what seemed like hours, holding him, hearing his heartbeat in her ear. He had brushed her blonde hair and whispered soft words of comfort to her as tears of relief spilled slowly down her face. Eventually, they let go of each other and Sybil had questioned Lloyd rigorously. Lloyd had doggedly answered her questions; he gave no details to where he had been, however, only saying that he had journeyed far to get to her side. Sybil had had a bad feeling about that. She knew for a fact that Lloyd had died that day, over a month ago, watched as he took his last sweet breath.

As she walked, she stumbled and fell. She winced as she hit the ground. As she got up, she turned and her hand shot to her mouth as she stanched a scream. She had tripped over an arm of a dead soldier, his face a bloody pulp, unrecognizable from his horrible wounds. One among many, an empty shell of what was, what had been, a brutally symbolic representation of how death could be so cruel.

She slowly backed away, keeping her eyes from the ground, not wanting to see any more death.

She tried to keep her mind off the horribleness around her, so she thought on to this morning once more.

His breath...

Sybil knew he had died; she knew as much as she knew that her brother was a royal dunce; that is to say, quite well indeed.

So she also knew this: Lloyd had died and come back. He had come back to be with her, but now...now he was different. She knew in her heart that Lloyd had done this. Somehow, someway, he had done this.

And Sybil was scared.

She reached the point where the two mountains where closest and the path the thinnest, the entrance to the castle, the exit to the frothy-peaked mountains. She slowly turned around taking it all in.

It was worse than she had imagined.

The metal peaked up in odd angles, like cold fingers reaching up to the forlorn sky. She could pick out bodies splayed across the ground, tossed carelessly one way or another, like rag dolls, they lay motionless.

Silent tears traced Sybil's face and she shuddered softly as she sobbed for their lost lives, the lives of her people. "Why Lloyd?" She shook "why would you hurt these innocent people!" She gathered herself, wiping away her tears.

She decided she would not cry. She hadn't it in herself anymore to be sad or frightened. She would not cry; not for the guards, her parents, or her brother. All she felt was hurt, but she used that, used the pain as fuel for her aching heart, to keep herself going.

She let her breathing settle before starting on her way back to Corona Skyletto. She walked back at an even pace and then she stopped in her tracks.

Lloyd landed silently on the ground. His black wings shimmered before evaporating into a white light around him. He stood there, like an angel, the soft light buzzing around him. He looked silently down at the corpse of a guard. Sybil swore his eyes flashed black, like night, and as they did, he walked over the dead man, not looking back, not caring at all. A demon, then, not an angel.

Sybil watched in a stunned silence. Lloyd finally noticed her standing their and he flashed her a smile "Hey, Sib. Whatcha doing down here?"

Sybil stood silently, not knowing what to say to this, this, thing. Lloyd walked over and took her in his arms, spinning her so that when she stopped, she was being cradled in his embrace. "Did I tell you how much I went through? How much I missed you?" Lloyd whispered in her ear. Sybil nodded weakly, her mind numb to his words of endearment. He held on to her tightly, rocking her in his arms as they walked back to the castle "You were what kept me going, Sib. You were in my mind, in my heart, keeping my feet moving when I thought I was too exhausted too. I just want to thank you for that."

And Sybil knew he meant every word. He was still Lloyd, her boyfriend was still there. But there was also something else. The wings, but more than that, the pure evil that seemed to come from him sometimes. She didn't know what would happen if she questioned him about any of it; she feared the worst but knew she had to say something. She had to know if it was all true.

She softly pushed Lloyd's arms off of her body and stepped in front of him. "Lloyd?" She began the question softly before blurting "are you an angel?" Her cheeks spread red in a rosy blush; the question sounded silly out loud.

Lloyd gave her a long, hard look and then his eyes softened. "You could say that. I died, Sib, okay. I died. But I managed to come back, through a series of events my mind doesn't want to think about right now."

Sybil looked at him, not completely stunned. He looked so...vulnerable.

But then she looked at the complete desolation around her and she corrected her thoughts. Looks, Sybil thought, is the key word.

"And this?" She added, sweeping her hand as to gesture the remains of the gate and the bodies that lay among it.

Lloyd stared at her for a long time. His eyes, the brown eyes Sybil so loved to get lost in, seemed dreary and hurt. "This," he said with a sneer in his voice "is what I try so desperately to hold in. This is my inner demon; I'm not very proud of it, but it's part of me now. Forgive me, Sib, please, I try so hard..." He stopped as he saw the pained look on Sybil's face.

Sybil had known. And now it was a fact. Lloyd had come back but he was different, he wasn't safe.

Lloyd stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Sybil. She shuddered slightly at his touch but didn't recoil, couldn't.

She still loved him, Sybil realized in horror. After all he had done, all who he had killed, she still loved him. Loved him dearly and exceptionally for what he used to be, that part of him that, even now, had his arms wrapped lovingly around her. And that love scared her more than anything else could have.

Sybil loved a demon.
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DragonDog1: I hope that you all enjoyed that installment of Dragon's Ascent. Sorry to those who thought it was a little slow paced, I promise the next chapter won't leave you needy for additional action. Please comment and vote because your opinions matter to me greatly. Thank you!