Silver breathed in deeply. In through her nose, then out through her mouth, forcing herself to relax. Her eyes were closed, and her wings were pressed tightly against her back. She made no movement, besides the occasional twitch of her tail and the tensing of her body. Surrounding her were the metal statues she had created, their still bodies in a mixture of poses, staring outwards with empty eyes.
But as Silver breathed, there was a movement among them. A tilt of the head, a flick of the tail. Slowly it began to move forward. It was the one she had shaped after an ice dragon, the frill of horns evident on its head. The metallic dragon tilted its head, and looked over itself in slight interest, as if surprised to be alive.
"Well done Silver, now keep up that contact, and open your eyes," O'hen spoke in his deep voice.
The dragoness continued to breath deeply, before slowly doing as the time dragon had asked. But as soon as she did, her focus on controlling the statue dissipated as she turned to controlling herself. The statue instantly froze solid in its new position. She let out a cry of frustration and stamped her foot down on the ground, and the ice dragon statue blew up, metal flying everywhere.
"Now that wasn't very nice," grunted the time drake.
"This is so... Aargh!" complained Silver, glaring back at him, "How on earth did my father do this? He hadn't even reached equilibrium!"
"There's a simple answer to that," replied O'hen, "He had..."
"More control," sighed the dragoness, "I know, I know. You've told me a hundred times."
It had been something she always wanted to be able to do. Her father had told her the story of how he had created a metal version of himself to fight as a decoy while he infiltrated an A.O.D.H base. It had worked very well, but it had been something Silver had never been able to accomplish. Now, here she was, so close, but still unable to do so.
The time dragon walked over to her and sat down beside her, "You'll get it eventually."
"That's what you keep saying," she murmured in reply.
He studied her for a moment, seeing the tensed up wings and agitated tail. She was in no condition to even think about trying to control her metal, when she was barely in control of herself. It was hard to see her like this, but there was only so much one could do as the master of time. He wished he could tell her everything, what he had planned, what victory required, but he knew he couldn't.
"Maybe we should have a break," he suggested.
"That's a good idea," the silver dragon slumped to the ground with a massive sigh, a headache having formed in the base of her skull. All this focusing couldn't be good for her head.
The two of them sat in silence for a moment, before O'hen decided to try something to ease her mind.
"Hey, if you're curious about something, anything at all, involving the past, future and present. As long as it doesn't risk anything in the future, I can tell you almost anything."
Silver looked up at him and thought for a moment. There were a lot of questions she had wanted to ask him, things such as the dragon riders she had seen in her dreams of the past, or the war that was the beginning of the third age. It all interested her, but at the moment she wasn't really in the mood to be given a history lesson.
"Am I allowed to ask who I will end up mated to?" she asked, without even really thinking.
"Hmm," he tilted his head, "Well, there are a lot of different answers to that. There used to be futures where you ended up with Gravon, and even Shiro, that fire dragon from D.E.D, but they are gone now. At the moment, it's more between Retrix and Zepos I guess. There are futures where you end up with one or the other. Sometimes you end up with both."
"Ha?" she tilted her head, a little confused at that.
"By both I mean, you go with one and then, for a number of different reasons, end up with the other. There are less common futures where you end up with other dragons, like West."
Silver barked a laugh "I don't see that happening."
O'hen shrugged, "There's others as well. There's even one future, an extremely unlikely one, where you end up with me. But that's... how should I say it... a very desolate future."
The dragoness frowned at that, "No offense... but that would be a little strange. I thought you said you couldn't mate."
"It's not that I can't, it's the fact that if I do another time dragon would be born, and that would cause a catastrophe, one that could very well destroy time itself," he said, "And possibly everything that has happened, is happening, and will happen."
"Ha, okay. That makes sense," she shook her head, "And here I was hoping for a simple answer."
He laughed, "Time has always been complicated. Nothing will ever change that."
She snorted before getting to her feet and shaking herself off, "I'm going to head back to Sky Mountain. A couple of friends of mine are hoping for a friendly sparring match. Maybe it will help calm my mind."
O'hen hesitated and opened his mouth, as if about to say something, then thought better about it, "Okay. Later then."
His body glowed in its strange fashion before dissipating back into time. The silvery glow that usually accompanied his visits faded away once more, leaving her alone in her cave. It had always been strange, how he had been able to do that, but she was getting used to it. Huffing, she walked over to the exit and launched herself into the sky with a flap of her wings.
She thought back to their conversation. When she first asked it had been more of a frivolous question, out of general curiosity, but now that she thought of it she was slightly frightened of the answer. She had already made her decision, she knew that, and she believed she had made the right choice as well, but if she revealed her answer then she was afraid of what it would do to both him, and the other drake. A sigh escaped her.
"Time for that later," she murmured as she tucked in her wings and flew into the mountain.
Her claws created sparks as she skidded into a landing and began to pad toward the training centre. She was quite eager for this, wanting to know how much she had improved and how much control she had. It shouldn't be that hard for Celestia and her to defeat the two drakes, though if they had been training every day for the past nine months then maybe they did have a chance.
As she was about to enter the tunnel into the training room something caught her eye. She looked up and spotted her brother, Raize, walking swiftly toward The Nest. There was something about the way he was looking around and walking that made her frown. It was like he had somewhere very important to be, but didn't want anyone to follow him. Naturally, this made Silver suspicious. Glancing at the training room she decided her friends could wait.
Trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, she began to trail her brother. She let her shell contract into a ring around her left horn, so if he glanced back he might think she was a light dragon instead of his sister. The dragon's around her were slightly surprised at her movement however, and she felt their stares follow her, most of them male. She chose to ignore them and quickly slunk after the fire dragon.
He made his way through the crowds of dragons, through the tunnel and into The Nest. She expected him to take flight, but when he didn't she frowned. Instead he picked his way over the jagged ground to a small cave at the very bottom of the mountain. Silver had seen it before, but had never payed it much mind. She guessed it was probably where some very strange dragon liked to live, possibly one that couldn't fly.
She hopped over the rocks after her brother as he disappeared inside. It was surprisingly dark, causing her to shiver softly. She let her shell creep back over her back, feeling much safer with it on. Besides, if there wasn't any light it would make it much easier for her to hide with it on. The cave was a surprisingly tight fit, and she found herself ducking under a few of the low hanging stalactites on the roof and holding her metal encased wings close to her side to avoid scraping them along the rock walls.
She moved slowly at first, allowing her eyes to grow accustomed to the darkness. The floor had a slight downward tilt do it, telling her that this cave descended underground. She frowned, why would Raize want go down here? It wasn't exactly the most comforting place, and Silver felt herself growing slightly claustrophobic. She couldn't even stretch out her wings in a place like this.
The dragoness walked on for a couple of minutes, trying to calm down her rising heart beat and urge to turn back. But she could here Raize shuffling along in front of her, though she couldn't see him. Her curiosity outweighed her fear and she continued forward. So focused she was that she nearly let out a cry of alarm as her foot met empty air.
With a muffled thump she fell through a hole in the ground, landing hard on her back. The metallic shell rasped, the sound echoing through the dark tunnel she had fallen into, and she froze, gulping softly. He had surely heard that. She quickly pulled herself to her feet and leapt back up the hole, letting her shell fade into black. That ability was becoming a lot easier now.
"Hello?" Raize's voice echoed through the cave, followed by the dull orange light of fire.
Silver blinked in surprise. Her brother had been walking along with a fireball floating in front of him. She hadn't known he had that kind of control over his fire. It made her frown slightly. Just how powerful had her brother become while she had been in A.O.D.H?
"Probably just a stone," he said to himself before turning and walking further down the tunnel.
Letting out a breath she hadn't realised she had been holding Silver dropped back down the hole, this time making an effort to keep as quite as possible. She slowly began to make her way after Raize. It was slightly difficult, considering it was hard to walk with complete silence, especially for a dragon, but she managed. It helped that Raize wasn't exactly quiet either.
Eventually the red light Silver had been following stopped. Slowly she crept forward and peaked around the corner to see Raize sitting in a small alcove with what looked like one of the human machines. A computer, she remembered. He mumbled something to himself as he used his tail to carefully tap a number of buttons on the keyboard.
It looked a little strange, a dragon attempting to use a computer, but the strangeness of it all was the fact he was doing it down here. Tilting her head Silver lay down quietly and watched as her brother slowly got the machine working. Its dim blue screen lit up, and Raize smiled grimly, proud of himself. He hit a few more buttons and the screen changed.
"About time you called me," a familiar and terrifying voice spoke through the screen of the computer. Silver muffled a yelp of surprise.
"I've been busy," replied Raize, sounding annoyed, "When were you going to tell me that my sister had escaped?"
"Oh, so she has made it back to Sky Mountain then," the voice of Eldawin said.
"Of course she has. You expect any less?"
"No, no. I knew she would," there was a sigh, "I assume you know she has reached equilibrium?"
"Of course I do. It was obvious the moment I saw her. I'm surprised you're still alive in all honesty."
"Raize, my grandson, have a little faith. I won't be so easily destroyed."
Silver stopped herself from growling. What was this? Her brother... and Eldawin. They knew each other! And more then that, they were working together. The shock Silver felt was only matched by the sudden overwhelming anger. Narrowing her eyes she continued to listen to their conversation.
"So what are you going to do now? I assume the machine was destroyed when Silver reached equilibrium," Raize continued.
"It's still mostly intact, much to our relief, but it is unfinished."
"So what? You want to try and capture Silver again?"
"No, it wouldn't work. Her will is too strong, and now she has the power of equilibrium as well. No, I have another idea. But it will require you."
"You want me to... what? Meet you at some A.O.D.H base. They would either kill or capture me on sight!"
"I can create an illusion of a device. My Admiral can bring you in, that will make it seem far less suspicious."
Raize snorted, "Very well. But there is another problem. How do you propose we finished the machine? Without Silver's metal it's going to be difficult."
"I know, but her equilibrium created vast amounts of the metal back at Diego Garcia. We have an excess amount of it. The only thing we need is something, or someone, to melt it."
The fire dragon nodded, "And that's where I come in?"
"Yes,"
He sighed, before nodding his head, "Very well, where should we meet?"
"There's an A.O.D.H base just up from China along the Russia/Mongolian border. Head there, you should be able to find it very easily. If it comes down to it, let them capture you, but otherwise wait there until either me, or my Admiral to come and get you."
"Okay, see you soon I guess," with a sigh Raize turned the computer screen off with his tail and went to turn around, and froze.
Silver stood in his path, a snarl on her maw and anger in her eyes. She lashed her tail angrily, glaring accusingly at her brother, a brother she thought she had known. A brother that she had trusted, fought with. He had even saved her life. But now here he stood, watching her with a mixture of guilt and reluctance in his stance.
"How dare you," she snarled.
"I'm assuming you heard every word of that then," he replied, surprisingly calm.
"Every damn one. You traitor," she lashed her tail.
He sighed, shaking his head, "I hoped you wouldn't find out, but of course, as soon as you come back, that plan goes to ruin."
"You have no where to run, Raize, and I'm taking you to Iraliene. That horrible machine will never be complete."
"If you think I'm going to come with you quietly your mistaken," he growled back, and glanced at the roof, "You really think you can defeat me Silver. I've had nearly ten months of training with my new power. You've had... ten days?"
She hesitated, before shaking herself, "I'll still kick your butt."
She took a step forward, and he hesitated, trying to find a way out of this without fighting his sister. He knew that he may have the more power, but in close quarters like this, she had the advantage.
"Why?" Silver suddenly asked, her voice breaking, "Why side with him?"
"I'm surprised you have the audacity to ask that question," grunted Raize, "Why wouldn't I? Humans are a blight on this world. They are constantly at war, killing, threatening, thinking they are above all else. They are destroying this planet Silver, and the only way we can save it is through destroying them."
"No, that is wrong! There are good humans, ones that would do anything to protect us."
"They are the minority, and whose to say that they won't change their mind. A bit of bribery from others and they instantly change sides. You think they won't? You are just as much a fool as the rest of them! They hunt us dragons down, and because they are afraid, they imprison us, torture us, force us to bow our heads to them. I won't stand for it any longer."
"You are the fool. Eldawin was the reason all that is happening! He's the leader of A.O.D.H, the leader of the largest and most powerful dragon hunting organisation on this earth."
"I know. But he created A.O.D.H as a way for dragons to live without having to suffer the consequences of being free in the outside world. There are other dragon hunting organisations out there Silver. Organisations that are far more horrible and terrifying, where dragons are tortured, killed, raped. D.E.D tortures and brainwashes dragons into thinking that humans are above them. And we sell very well on the black market, dead or alive. Over eighty percent of the dragon population is under captivity. Yes, most of that is through A.O.D.H, but if A.O.D.H wasn't there then our population wouldn't be nearly as high as it is now. You can't argue against that. The only way we will thrive in this world is through the destruction of the beings that are holding us down."
"You're wrong," she snarled, "Sky Mountain is proof that dragons and humans can work together."
"Ha, a poor choice of an example Silver. The only reason the Chinese government helps you is because they gain very useful data from it. Data used to create weapons, new technologies. Once you have nothing more to give them, they will destroy you."
"You don't know that."
"I do know that!" he roared, "And I will not stand idly by and watch our proud race be trodden into the dirt. Yes, Eldawin's methods may be a bit... extreme. But the only way we will win this war is through extremism."
"Raize, please, don't," Silver said to him, "Don't do this. What about Liam? Or the farmers? The humans you are friends with."
"A necessary sacrifice," he said coldly, "For even if they a friendly toward us, their children's children won't be. I'm looking toward the future Silver, and the only way we can survive is through rising up. And the only way to do that is destroying the barrier above us."
"I won't let you!"
He smiled, almost sadly, "You don't have a choice."
Before she had a chance to react fire suddenly rushed outwards from Raize, followed by a massive wave of heat and a roar. She was thrown backwards, quickly getting her metal shell to cover her completely to protect herself against the sudden blast, wincing in pain.
Above them the dragons walking around The Centre heard the roar. The ground below them suddenly cracked, before exploding outwards like a volcano. Raize flew out from the explosion, looking down with a small sigh. He glanced around, the dragons looking at him in surprise, and fear, wondering what he had done. Their gazes turned to the hole as another roar, this one full of anger and sorrow, exited the ground. A silver flash sped outwards as the dragoness charged at her brother.
He let out a grunt of surprise as she tackled him through the air, flipping around and slamming him into the ground with as much force as she could muster. He yelped in pain as they rolled a number of metres. Using the momentum of the collision Raize kicked outwards with his hind legs, throwing his sister from him. He quickly got back to his feet and spread his wings, snarling.
Silver rolled to her feet as well, lashing her tail and sending a number of spikes at the fire dragon. He leapt upwards and slashed with his wings. A wave of fire suddenly bust from the wing, hitting the spikes and sending them to the ground. He then breathed an inferno at his sister, who lifted her wings and blocked the blast with a growl. The force behind it was startling, and she found herself getting pushed backwards.
Closing his mouth Raize lifted himself into the air, looking down at her with slight remorse. Fire had caught on the newly grown plants and trees, quickly engulfing them. Heat radiated from the drake as he gathered his power; ready to end this fight before it had begun.
Silver looked up at him, breathing heavily. The metal on her back had warmed up considerably. So much so that it was beginning to almost burn her. She snarled and took a step forward; looking up at him with the same anger she had for Eldawin. How could he? How could he do this to her?
"I'm sorry Silver," he called out, "But there is no other way."
He flapped his wings once and the fire that had set around the area instantly leapt to his call. It swirled upwards towards him, before rushing down like a giant serpent. Silver took a step back, and let out a cry as the fire blasted into her. She stood no chance, and was flung backwards and into a nearby wall, before falling to the ground unconscious.
Raize breathed deeply, letting his flames dissipate from the surrounding area. Everyone was silent, staring at him in surprise. Without another word the fire dragon turned around and sped out from Sky Mountain, leaving the rest of them wondering what had happened between the two of them.
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Hey guys! New chapter :) Got this one out quickly this time. Vote if you enjoyed and comment on what you thought. Do you agree with Raize's reasoning? The next chapter will be out as soon as I can get it. And remember, if you want extra information on the dragons have a look at my 'Ideas, Updates and other stuff' book. See Ya!
Pennator^^