The Red Dragon

Chapter 31.5

A/N:

Hello everyone! Dein here with a very small teaser update. This is just to get you in the mood and whip up some excitement in the comments for the coming conclusion to my wonderful wife's amazing story, The Red Dragon.

She has been hard at work for the last several weeks pounding out the ending. So many ideas generated, refined, and in many cases discarded. More than once, the twisty little trail led directly back to the original points covered in her outline!

The buildup chapter(s) and climax have been written. There was a short period where she was unable to form words when she saw what I did with Gray's magic, but she got better! The only part that remains is the epilogue, so give her some love and encouragement to wrap it up and start posting! :)

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Acnologia flew high, hugging the upper layer of cloud cover as much as possible. His hungry gaze followed the contour of the land racing below him as he hunted. He was not focusing on any specific details. Rather, he was looking for motion, a speck that would be the form of his hated foe winging his way home to his beloved husband.

Fury burned through him, warding off the bitter chill of the altitude while he glided from thermal to thermal. At one point, he momentarily faltered as he tried to use his non-existent foreleg to adjust his balance, and the weakness caused him to growl.

The war may be over... it was absolutely over since he had devoured the souls of the last of his erstwhile renegades and bathed in their blood before traveling here to assume the role of Logan, but he would not be denied his vengeance.

"The son of Igneel will die by my claw, and then the father will meet his delayed fate soon after."

Acnologia had traveled north for dozens of miles at this point. He worried that he may have missed the fire dragon's passing. However, just then, the black dragon saw something below. It was not motion, but it called for his attention nonetheless. A faint glimmering ribbon wending its way from the horizon to the north where the coast lay, and traveling in a direct path back the way he had come.

The ribbon was not cloud or smoke or any form of matter. It was the faintest trace of magic, picked out by his senses, which had been empowered by his massacre of the renegades. Acnologia descended and approached the ribbon. It remained vague and hard to discern, but as he drew near, he caught the faint whiff of Natsu's hated scent. There were several others mingled with it. At least one other dragon, and several humans with the perfume of dragon magic.

The black dragon wheeled about and resumed his previous altitude as he began following the trail. He had to hold back a roar and settled instead for a viscous growl.

"I have you now, young whelp. You will suffer for your insolence, and those with you will share your pain!"