The Dragon's Scale (COMPLETE, EDITING)

||Chapter 27.1||

AHARON WASN'T REAL.

That should have lifted the pain from Josh's chest, but it didn't, because Aharon wasn't exactly not-real either. As he and Xander together explained, the temple guardians sacrificed all parts of themselves except remnants of their souls to enact the spell which sealed away Lucien.

That's all Aharon was. A remnant whose sole purpose was to die fighting for the temple. Always just an inch out of death's door, awaiting for it to finally consume him.

Josh forced himself to look straight ahead despite the burning desire to turn around and gawk at Aharon. Those red particles would still be drifting from the end of his blood. Had it before when Aharon's child form faced the reaper? He had been too confused to notice.

Aharon was going to die. Josh had never known somehow who died.

He is already a dead man, Josh. Boomer nuzzled him through the bond. Like Aharon said, either the Shadow Knights make him expend all of his remaining energy or he faded when everyone left the temple.

Josh knew that, but it didn't change anything. The inevitability gnawed at him, a constant whisper in his ear he couldn't escape.

Aharon had been speaking to Xander during the run, but when he raised his voice, Josh tuned in. "The room ahead is a recreation of a memorial tomb we created for the dragon who protected our town. We built a large dragon statue for her, and at the base of her forehead is the temple's seal. There are a couple of things that must be done before the door to leave opens. One of those things is breaking the seal."

"What?" Cale's voice shook. "We have to break one of the seals trapping our enemy if we wish to leave?"

"We never planned for the good guys to get in here," Aharon reminded him. "If I had the choice, there would be no way to leave, but the seal is what keeps this dimension stable. When it breaks, a portal opens, whether Moshe and I wanted it to or not."

"What are the other things that must be done?" Mara asked.

Aharon paused. "We have to get rid of the second reaper. Both are tied into the seal's strength," he said.

"So either the... you called it a reaper, correct?" Xander asked.

"Yes," Aharon replied. "You may know it as a escrivus an'zra."

Xander blew out a long breath. "I should have figured from its refusal to die." He took in that information for a moment before continuing. "So, we will need the escrivus an'zra to meet us in the room, perhaps with the Shadow Knights with it."

"Correct."

"Must we wait until then to do anything? Or are we able to weaken the seal enough that it will break upon the reaper's death?"

"We can weaken it," Aharon said. "We need to keep the Shadow Knights at bay while I--we can talk about this later. I did not realize we were so close to the room."

Josh had. He'd been watching the opening growing closer and closer every second. Eli had to be in that room if Moshe took him this way, but if it was the end of the temple and they had to face the reaper in there...

Never before had Josh wanted Eli as far from him as possible in that temple.

They slowed down at the opening. Cale entered first. Mara waited for Josh to catch up and squeezed his arm. "He will be safe," she said, shooting him a reassuring smile.

She walked in, Josh only half a step behind her.

The room was at least as big as Josh's old house, possibly even bigger than it. Stairs scaled the walls to his left and right. The columns were crafted to look like long, serpentine dragons rising into the air, almost reaching the ceiling before curling to stare down into the room. Bright gems glittered in their eyes, and a fiery light emitted from their open jaws. Vases sat on the opposite side of the steps, a mixture of sloppy and neat hieroglyphs drawn on them. They were a stark contrast to the elegance put into the dragon columns.