Silver didn't sleep that night, laying awake, curled up in her metal nest, flinching at every scratch, movement and sound outside her cave. When morning finally came she lifted her head, finding herself breathing a little easier. A beam of sunlight cut through the entrance of her cave, illuminating the dragoness and her nest, causing her to glow softly.
With a shaky breath Silver rose from her nest and stepped onto the ground. Looking at her sleeping arrangement she connected her mind to it and it began to warp and change once again. Slowly it moved into liquid form, converging with her shell. It didn't help to leave a trail of metal wherever she went. Slowly she walked outside once again. At first she was cautious, but something told her that she wouldn't see Eldawin again... for a while anyway.
She felt herself relax, the cool wind brushing over her shell and cooling her down. It helped her focus. Shaking herself she turned and looked over the snowy landscape, wind whipping up squalls of snow and ice. The sun was out that day, a rare sight in the Antarctic. Without thinking she opened her wings, about to take off into the snow, when she stopped, hesitating. The previous night rushed back into her, everything that had happened. The illusions, the utter control He had, and that threat. A threat that scared her more then she cared to admit.
"What am I doing?" she growled at herself, looking back at the ocean behind her in half distaste.
She couldn't understand it. She had been threatened before, tortured before, controlled before. But why did this make her so wary about heading forward once again. Since when had she let herself be controlled by fear? The thought kept running through her head but every time it did she found herself flashing back into that horrid experience of the previous night.
Closing her eyes she began to breathe slowly, trying to clear her mind. The metal on her back shimmered softly in response and its cool, mindless determination seeped into her. It wasn't quite enough to convince her to take the first step... but it managed to calm her down.
She relaxed, her wings draping by her side as she looked into the sky, "O'hen!" she roared, "I need to speak with you!"
At first nothing happened, and she suspected that the time dragon either wasn't listening or didn't want to come, but then the sky began to fade into an eerie silver and time around her froze. A white light glowed softly in front of her, before expanding outwards to form a dragon shape and solidifying.
"You know Silver, I am not under your call," he said, rather stoically.
"And yet you came," replied the dragoness with a grunt.
He snorted, before nodding his head, "I did. Now what did you want?"
"Is it true what Eldawin said... about equilibrium?"
O'hen was silent for a moment, as if trying to figure out a way to word his answer, "In a way."
"In a way?" she growled, "What's that supposed to mean?"
He sighed, before looking at her, "It is true in the sense that every time you use your equilibrium... you loose a part of yourself – "
"And why didn't you tell me this sooner!" she cut in, "Don't you think that would have been an important piece of information!"
"I wasn't finished," he growled back, "Yes, every time you use equilibrium you loose a bit yourself, but the effect is far less... horrifying then the first. Depending on how it is used of course."
Silver went silent, tilting her head at the time dragon, before sitting down on her haunches. She gestured for him to continue, feeling a little angry that he had held this from her. He met her gaze, before sighing and shaking his head.
"If you use an equilibrium when you are clear headed and under control... any after effect will be minimal, barely there at all. If you use an equilibrium out of desperation or emotion, the effect will be a little more noticeable but still not too dramatic... but if you push yourself to the breaking point again then you're equilibrium will take a large part of who you are. Does that make sense?"
"Yes, but I still don't understand why you kept this from me."
"I didn't want to frighten you from using your power, because while you will become very strong without it... some things can only be achieved with it," he looked steadily at her, and she hesitated.
"But... I don't want to loose more than I already have," she said softly.
"You won't... if you use your power in the right way. It also depends on how often you use you're equilibrium. You use it a lot... you will loose more of yourself."
"So... basically, if I use it in moderation I'll be okay," said Silver, looking at him with a tilted head.
"Yes."
She let out a small breath of relief, looking to the ground. The power of equilibrium was still inside her. She could feel it, seeping through her body, connecting her with herself. Then there was that pit, deep in her stomach, that held the power at bay, for now. But some part of her wondered... what would happen if she let it to the forefront again.
"Is there anything else I need to know?" she asked O'hen, "About equilibrium I mean."
The time dragon thought for a moment, before nodding his head, "When you use equilibrium, you drain a lot of power from yourself, and it requires an enormous amount of energy. When you return to your base state, you will find yourself massively drained. Again, this depends on how much power you use and how long you are in equilibrium for, but if you use it again before you've recovered... there is disastrous consequences, and more often then not, it will result in death."
Silver snorted softly, "I suspected that much. The first time I was unconscious for a couple of hours."
O'hen grunted softly in agreement, before turning to look over the frozen arctic. They sat in silence for a couple of moments, Silver going through what she had just learned. There was much more to this new power than she thought there was, she just hoped she didn't loose herself to it.
"So what are you going to do?" asked the time drake suddenly, glancing over at her, "Are you going to heed Eldawin's warning and flee, or are you going to continue?"
Silver opened her mouth to reply, but found she couldn't. She had no idea what she was going to do. That threat had been more then just a simple warning. Eldawin knew that he would be able to break her, destroy her, and the idea frightened her. More than death. More than loss.
"Does he make good on his threat if I continue?" she asked softly.
"He will try," replied Time, "Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes he fails, but regardless of that, I want to ask you something. Why does that matter to you? Since when did you, of all dragons, let fear hold you?"
She hesitated, "I... I don't know."
"Do you know why Eldawin is so strong Silver?" said O'hen, "Because he is able to pick on the tiniest bit of doubt. The tiniest amount of fear. If you let him get to you, he will destroy you, but if you are able to hold yourself up, to accept your fear and conquer it... then he has no power over you."
Silver looked up at him, before letting out a breath and looking out over the Antarctic once again. It was strange to see snow hovering in midair, as if it had really just stopped. In this pocket of time... the cold harshness was gone, and with it all the death, the stress, the anxiety of war. The world was warm. Just like it should be, and in that moment of time, the dragoness made her decision. She would fight so that the world would be a mirror of this pocket of time.
The silvery glow that accompanied O'hen faded away, and once again the wind brushed over the snowy landscape, catching snow as it went. Silver shivered softly, breathing in deeply, before opening her wings and launching herself into the air. She turned, and headed out over the wasteland, toward Eldawin's Syndicate.
* * *
The hours of flying passed quickly for the dragoness, and often she found herself slowing down to glide. She was really regretting the lack of sleep, her white teeth flashing as yet another yawn escaped her. Shaking her head she flapped her wings a couple more times, grunting softly. She was nearly there, only a little longer and she would be able to rest... hopefully.
The mountains that housed the Syndicate rose up in front of her, casting their long shadows over the landscape. The sun was slowly sinking behind them, and along with it any warmth that it created. Shivering softly she continued on her way, hoping that one of the many patrols through the mountains found her before she collapsed from exhaustion.
She flew into one of the long valleys, looking around for anyone at all. She half wondered if she would be able to find the Syndicate by herself. It had been a very long time since she had last visited, and she had only passed through these mountains twice before. Usually she had a pretty good sense of direction... but in this case... all the mountains looked the same. It was infuriating.
With a sigh she continued to push herself on, when a sudden noise whistled through the air, catching her attention. Despite being tired, her reaction was still as quick as ever. She flipped in the air, shattering an ice spike directed toward her unprotected stomach with her wings. She snarled angrily, quickly looking around in anger for the attacker.
"You have some nerve showing yourself here," a growl sounded from seemingly nowhere, "Traitor."
"Show yourself, coward," Silver snarled back, "Or are you too afraid to fight me face to face?"
There was a moment of silence, before a movement on the nearest mountain caught her attention. Slowly a dragon revealed itself, leaping into the air. It was pure white, and had been blended in with the snow of the mountain. It would have startled her, had she not recognised the dragon.
"Kunder, if I remember correctly," she said.
"Silver," growled the white ice dragon, "You look different then last time we met."
"A lot's happened since then. But before you attack again think, because whatever they told you is a lie."
"Oh yeah? So you didn't eavesdrop on a secret meeting held by our leader, and you didn't kill Thylo, and you didn't flee back to your home with the humans," he growled.
She hesitated, before snorting back, "Your leader is in league with A.O.D.H, and tried to have me captured by them. My home is at Sky Mountain."
"You lie," he rumbled, "Zoralth would never work with humans, and according to our spies in the mountain there hasn't been any sign of you there for a long time."
She growled, "Pretty horrible spies. If they knew anything, they would have found out that I was captured by A.O.D.H, and have been under their custardy for the past nine months! When your leader failed to capture me, they attacked Sky Mountain."
He hesitated, having heard of this attack, "If this is true, then how did you get free?"
"I reached equilibrium," she replied without hesitation.
Kunder froze, staring at her in shock. He looked over her, taking in her changes and noticing the strange aura that was different, yet so similar to Firefly's. He backed away slightly, putting some distance between him and the dragoness. He looked at her, tilting his head and gulped.
"Wh...what do you want?"
"I have learnt of something, something that will change the world as we know it, and we need help to stop it. For if you don't help us... then disaster will strike," she stated, looking at him with hard eyes.
The ice drake seemed to hesitate for a moment, looking around him as if trying to decide whether or not to believe her. He looked her right in the eye, and knew in an instant she was telling the truth. Besides, a dragon under human influence would not have been able to push themselves to what was needed to reach equilibrium.
"Very well. I will bring you in, but don't expect to be welcomed," he grunted, before turning around and flying into the mountains.
Silver followed, letting out a small breath of relief. She may not be welcome there, but at least she had got in without too much trouble. Now all that remained was convincing them to allow her to talk, and to find Firefly, possibly the only other dragon in the world who would be able to stand up to Eldawin and her brother.
They flew for another hour through the snowy landscape before they reached a mountain far larger then the rest. This time Silver made a mental note of their path, in case she ever needed to go their again. It would be far easier if she didn't need a guide.
Kunder folded in his wings and dived into a large pocket of snow that hide the entrance to Eldawin's Syndicate. Without hesitated, Silver followed, still finding it abnormal in the fact that it was an illusion. Though, when she looked at it closely, she realised that it wasn't quite a perfect replica of snow. It wasn't as detailed, and had a slight shimmering effect. Eldawin definitely didn't create this one, but it still made her a little uncomfortable to have the knowledge that her mind was being manipulated into seeing this.
She flew through, seeing the large tunnel that lead into The Syndicate, and continued on her way. She knew at the end of this place there would be far more dangerous things to worry about. She just hoped the dragons would at least listen to her speak before they attacked on instant. And she hoped she would see Firefly again. She doubted they would have put her in prison for helping their escape.
* * *
Raize sat on his haunches, looking down a large drop leading into a pit below. Inside the pit small figures moved, hauling massive amounts of shiny metal into it from a recent recovery group of dragons. The metal glistened and shined in the light, its mirror like surface entrancing anyone who looked upon it. It looked as if it had been recently polished to perfection, but Raize knew that it was far more then that.
"So you want met to melt it?" he asked the human standing at his side.
"If you can," the reply came.
"You sure that your human buildings can withstand such a heat. I mean... thirty thousand degrees Celsius is hotter then the surface of the sun," the fire dragon looked down at the human.
"We know very well what is required to melt this metal, but it has been done before. The question is, Raize, you think you can withstand the heat."
"I am fire, Admiral, I would not worry about my wellbeing around heat," he grunted.
"Good, that is what we like to hear. Aaah... finally," The Admiral said as he looked down into the pit.
A large mass of elronium metal was being hauled inside on a platform being pulled by three earth dragons. Unlike the rest of it however, this metal had a shape, a designated form, one that radiated menace. The Machine. There was no other name for this piece of infrastructure, for no other name was needed. But Raize new that its simple name hid the untold power it could posses.
Along one side of The Machine was a large hole, where it had not quite been finished. It was almost annoying, seeing it this close to being done but so far at the same time. If only they had waited a month or so more for Silver to finish it before they tried to test her. He sighed. As powerful as Eldawin was, he was prone to making mistakes.
"So why are you helping him do this? If this 'machine' goes off, you will die as well you know," said Raize, looking at The Admiral.
"I know, but I welcome death," he looked at the fire dragon with a grin, "As far as I'm concerned, the human race has had its chance. It failed. Now it is time for another race to rule the earth. In my life I've seen what we have done, what we will continue to do. People think the world is getting better, a falsehood that we constantly tell ourselves. But no, no. We are getting worse, slowly deteriating. We rely on our technology for success and have lost ourselves in the process," a slightly made chuckle left him, "It would be my pleasure to put us out of our misery. Besides, we all will die anyway."
Raize shivered as the man spoke, but hid his emotions well, turning to look down at the ominous Machine. The dragons below ground to a halt, breathing heavily from the weight. Elronium was usually quite a light metal, but it was still metal. In great proportions it would weigh tons. It made him rather appreciative of the fact that his sister could hold so much of it.
"Well I better get down there," he said, opening his wings.
"Yes. Do well Raize. Remember... we are relying on you," The Admiral spoke turning away from the dragon and beginning to walk, hands behind his back.
The fire dragon watched him go, before snorting to himself and leaping from the platform, gliding down to the pit below. The humans and dragons occupying the pit quickly left, leaving the drake alone to do his work. He knew what was required of him.
Breathing deeply Raize gathered his power inside of him, before opening his mouth and launching a bolt of fire into the elronium. A bolt so hot that it burned white, heat cracking over the surface of the room. The rock below began to heat up, and the elronium metal glowed red hot.
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Hey guys! New chapter! I finally got out another one :) Vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought. I hope to get the next one out as soon as I'm able to. I just realised that I'm up to chapter 25... and I still have a fair way to go. Wow, I have a feeling this book is going to be a fair bit longer then I originally planned ;) See Ya!
Pennator^^