Eldawin watched, worried, as the metallic power of Silver's equilibrium flooded the room. The air around them flinched and shimmered much like an illusion. The taste and scent of metal assaulted his senses, causing him to snort and take a step back, shaking his head. It was far too late to stop it. Far too late to do anything about it.
For a moment the mind dragon considered reaching for his own hidden power, but immediately discounted the idea. His own equilibrium didn't work as well as usual on dragons that had lost control. That left only one option. He turned around and used his tail to hit a switch behind him. Part of the wall fell away, revealing a long corridor. He didn't hesitate and quickly ran forward, flapping his wings and pushing himself into the corridor.
A moment later the full power of equilibrium was achieved through the silver dragoness. She didn't explode into metal, nor did she unleash her power on the room around her. Instead she retained her dragon form, the metal covering her body moving like liquid, constantly flowing over around around her wings, down to her claws and along her tail. Her eyes flashed open, their silvery glow casting a strange light throughout the room.
She could see everything, like the world had suddenly been opened up. Every spot of metal in the A.O.D.H base was part of her. It connected with her, and she to it, so it told her everything. It showed her the dragons in their pens, getting to their feet, slightly fearful of the power waves running through the base. It showed her the humans, rushing back and forth as their alarms blared. It showed her the small group of dragons in a room right above her, waiting their turn for the mental testing. It showed her the fleeing mind dragon, as he sped through the escape tunnel he had created. She saw it all and felt... nothing. But she knew what she had to do.
She leapt forward toward the wall where Eldawin had disappeared, and collided with it, but instead of falling back her body melded into the metal of the wall... and disappeared.
The mind dragon knew he was getting close to the top now, the opening that lead into the sky. As he flew he sent out a simple message to all the dragons he had under his control. 'Get out now, do whatever you have to do'. He was okay with loosing the humans, but the more dragons that died during this attack the more he would be held back from his goal.
As he reached the end of the tunnel he felt a strange shift in mental energy around him, like the metallic walls he was surrounded by had come to life. There was a pulse to his left side. He let out a growl of surprise and flared his wings, slowing down his speedy rush and narrowly avoiding the large metal spike that protruded out from the wall. He flapped his wings again, pushing himself forward and pulling his maw into a snarl.
Another spike shot out from the wall, which he also narrowly dodged, though the tip of it ripped out a line of scales from his side. A low rumbled escaped him, but he ignored the pain. It didn't bother him at all. Growling lowly he reached out his mind into the metal surrounding him, and was surprised at what he found.
All the hate, anger, the emotional uproar that usually was the cause of equilibrium wasn't there. There was no thought process, no feeling at all. All that was there was a mindless determination, one that was focused entirely upon him. His eyes narrowed. So there was something mental controlling this force, and if there was, it meant he could use it.
Focusing on the scrap of intelligence found inside the mindless roil of metal, he took control of it, manipulated it, making it think he was in a slightly different place then he was before. The next spike that shot out from the wall went wide, missing him by a good metre. He grinned, beating his wings one more time and shooting out through the hole at the end of the tunnel and into the sky. As soon as he was out however, he was faced with another problem.
Strong winds swept through the sky, carrying sheets of heavy rain as the storm above assaulted the island. Lightning lit up the night sky in streaks of flashing blue. The trees below bent dangerously low until they were almost touching the ground. The oceans waves crashed against the island, on both sides, sending cascading water across the land. The ships that were stored on the inside part of the island were in danger of being capsized by the growing waves.
Eldawin growled as he was battered fiercely by the winds, struggling to keep his large bulk from being thrown back to the ground. He looked back down at the tunnel he had just come from, and let out a groan of annoyance. The metal he had escaped from was now shooting from the opening, reaching up and piecing through the wind like giant metallic tentacles. He new he wouldn't be able to dodge them, but he had another idea.
He focused on that small piece of consciousness again. He knew he would never be able to control something like this, no matter how powerful he was, but he could trick it. Opening his wings wider Eldawin allowed the wind to catch him and throw him out of the way. The metallic tendrils missed him by inches, continuing to shoot higher into the sky after the illusion he had created of himself. In his minds eye he watched as one of the tendrils pieced his illusion through the stomach, entering out through his back before continuing higher into the sky.
The mind dragon caught himself, gaining control as he glided down to the safety of the ground once again, struggling to close his wings against the wind and rain. He turned to look up into the sky, wondering if the metallic equilibrium had noticed his get away. Through reading it's thought process he knew it hadn't, but it had focused on a different target. Eldawin's eyes widened and he growled, his mental order to the dragons inside becoming stronger. Not many of them would survive.
The metal rose to its maximum height, but instead of falling back to the earth the tendrils began to grow and expand, liquid metal flowing upwards and outwards helping increase itself increase in power and size. Lightning and rain battered the metallic shell as it continued to expand, becoming larger and larger until it had become the size of the island. The rain had stopped falling, but Eldawin had a feeling that something much worse was about to descend from the sky.
The metallic sky rippled and shivered, liquid metal in a constant state of motion as its energy surged through the sky. Some of the humans working at ground level in the A.O.D.H base had come out of the hangars. Now the rain had seemed to stop, they were wondering what was happening. Gasps of surprise and cries of terror were sounded as they looked upwards, seeing the metallic sheen of elronium instead of the black and cloudy sky.
And suddenly, the metal descended. Pillars of metal fell from the sky, acting as large drills that pieced through water, earth and flesh as it forced its way into the A.O.D.H base bellow. The very earth seemed to tremble and groan. Giant waves were thrown into the air, covering half the island in water. One human found himself pieced through his head by one of the small pillars, and many others were crushed or at least injured by the metal.
Eldawin growled to himself, his urge to get the other dragon's out transferring to the ones below. Though now the equilibrium was attacking the A.O.D.H base, he didn't know how many would survive. As the last amount of elronium forced itself into the base and the rain began to fall again, a lightning bolt followed it from the sky, striking it and sending coursing electricity down into the underground.
***
Blaze new something was wrong from the moment he felt the power surge through the base. The other dragons he was with felt it as well, looking at each other nervously. None of them had ever come across something like this before, and it frightened them. It seemed even the humans could recognise the power surge, one or two of them looking a little frightened.
"What was that," one of the handlers whispered.
"I don't know," replied the other, glancing at the door that lead into the corridors outside, "But I don't think that's supposed to happen. Whatever it is."
That was when the order to flee struck the fire dragon. He growled, and resisted for a moment, before suddenly finding himself walking forward toward the door. The other dragons seemed to have a similar problem. Blaze's handler, a man named Zacc, frowned and stepped forward in an attempt to stop him.
"Where are you going? Stop right this instant," he ordered.
Much to his surprise, the controlling device in his head caused him to do much the opposite. Instead he swung his wing around, smashing it into the man's side and sent him tumbling unconscious across the floor. A panic seized him and he ran to the door, breathing a fireball at it in an attempt to get it open. It didn't work.
The other dragons seemed to panic as well, and they also stampeded toward the door. One of the earth drakes swung his tail at it, and with a metallic twang it flew backwards, leaving a gap for the dragons to escape. Blaze was pushed to the side, causing him to growl in annoyance. He pushed back, managing to squeeze through the gap left in the wall and running through the corridor, the others in front or around him.
The startled humans were left behind, wondering what on earth had happened to their dragons. One of them started to follow after them, but was stopped by Diana. Silver's dragon handler had a sudden feeling that staying where they were would likely be the best cause of action.
The base suddenly quaked, a loud screeching of metal ringing through the base as the first pillar of elronium broke through. The rumbling caused a number of the dragons to be thrown off balance. Blaze tripped over his own feet and fell face forward into the metal floor, grunting in pain as Reha, the water dragoness, ran into his body and fell over as well.
The two dragons quickly untangled themselves, the devices in their heads blaring at them to get moving. But as Blaze stood up, a column of elronium metal broke through the roof right in front of them. He yelped, natural instinct overcoming the device's urging for him to run forward, narrowly avoiding the liquid metal. He stared, looking at it in slight terror, wondering what could have caused such a thing.
The water dragon groaned softly as she got to her feet as well, turning to look at the dragons around them. There was four, Blaze and Reha, one of the other fire drakes,and the wind dragon. He seemed more annoyed then upset. The devices were quick to make them move again, beginning to head away from the pillar blocking their path and toward an alternate route. They hadn't moved a single step however when an electrical cackle went through the room.
Blue lightning was conducted down the metallic pillar, and into the walls of the base, striking outwards at anything that it could touch. Blaze roared out in pain as the force of nearly a billion volts of electricity surged through him. He was thrown backwards against a wall, as were the other dragon's, and everything became black.
***
The metallic equilibrium continued its rampage through A.O.D.H, the pillars digging deeper and deeper into the ground. Gallons of seawater surged into the base through the holes created in the seabed. The water surged down through the metallic corridors, catching many dragons and humans in the flood.
Despite the many that died, many also managed to escape the base. The dragons in the main hangar, where a numerous amount were kept, managed to break through the lift blocking their way and into the windy rainy sky above. The humans who were tending to them were all yelling and screaming at them to stop, but the order from Eldawin overrode any order from them.
Down below in the more important sections of A.O.D.H the humans were rushing about, alarms blearing in the roof. One scientist in his white lab coat snapped shut a briefcase with the latest model for a new device they had been working on, when the roof above them suddenly let out a huge groan. Everything stopped, and gazes were turned to look skyward.
The elronium pillar above pieced through the roof, surging straight down toward the humans below. The man let out a cry, then was crushed by the pillar. Instead of continuing into the ground however the elronium began to expand once more, flooding the large cavern and solidifying the scientists within. Then last of the lightning surged down through it and into the ground below.
For a moment everything was still, besides the now weakly blearing alarm, then the equilibrium began to move again, repeating the same process as before, but instead of descending down into the base it began to rise up, creating another set of holes through the base.
Outside Eldawin watched as his island was destroyed from the inside out, giant tentacles of metal ripping through the core structure of what was once the strongest and most powerful A.O.D.H base. It was almost enchanting, the elronium catching the lightning flashes and sending them deep within the earth, and the water around and in the middle of the island draining downwards. Everything that he had worked on for the past nine years, all gone within an hour.
He watched as a group of dragons flew from the base, heading toward him. He lifted himself into the sky again, beating his wings furiously in the wind. It would be a difficult flight away from the island, but it would be far more dangerous to stay. Almost two thousand dragons had escaped, meaning that over half were still inside, dead or trapped. Eldawin couldn't tell, but he couldn't wait around. Roaring to the dragons that had escaped, he turned and flew into the storm, his army close behind. He would come back later.
Hours passed and the storm slowly dwindled into a sprinkling downfall, and the metallic equilibrium continued to rip apart the place that had kept it trapped for the past nine months. The interior structure of the base fell away, and even more water flooded down into the wreckage. The equilibrium roared out, before beginning to shrink, the metallic pillars withdrawing and merging together into a single point, then even that melding and moving, smaller and smaller, until it resembled the shape of a dragon.
The last drop of equilibrium retracted from Silver and the metal shell retracted from her bloodstream and organs, returning to its original state on her back, leaving her unconscious on the last piece of island still existing, the rest either ripped apart or underwater.
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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed, vote if you did and comment what you thought. Tell me what you think about Silver's equilibrium? Next chapter will be out as soon as I can get it. I'm almost finished school, so I'll hopefully be able to work on this book more often. See ya!
Pennator^^