The sun was slowly beginning to set in the horizon, casting its long shadows over the valley and sending a pulse of orange, yellow and purple through the sky. The green glossy trees glowed softly in the dying light, their leaves swaying like waves as the night breeze washed down from the mountains. There was movement throughout the valley as many a dragon slowly made their way to the abandoned caves scattered along the range. Others were going to be forced to spend the night in the open sky, as there weren't enough caves for the entire army.
A shining mirror-like light moved slowly through the air, catching many glances from down below. Silver let out a soft sigh. The afternoon sunset was a beautiful sight from the valley, but it was also insanely annoying. She could feel the glare of the sun against her shell, and was forced her to squint slightly.
She glided down to her old cave and landed in the shadiest spot she could find. Almost instantly the glare disappeared. She felt herself relax, but didn't move to go into the cave just yet. Instead she sat down on the edge of the cliff leading down into the valley, and simply admired the view.
She remembered this sight. This used to be one of her favourite spots to think back when she lived in the valley. The only reason she didn't use it much was because of her brothers, constantly moving in and out. And her mother, constantly asking what she was thinking about.
With a growl she shook her head, not wanting to get too immersed in memories of the past. She needed to be focusing on the future. It was difficult to believe that, one way or another, tomorrow would be the end of A.O.D.H. For a long time the dragon hunting organisation had been apart of Silver's life. Her father had grown up there, before he escaped, and they had always been on the edge of everyone's minds. But, finally, they would be no more.
A dark purple dragon flying up toward the cave caused Silver to move away from her train of thought. She smiled slightly as the drake glided in and landed beside her.
"Hey," he said, seeming a little solemn.
"Hey," she replied, tilting her head, "Everything alright."
He responded with a slight smile of his own, "Yeah, just wanting this all to be over."
Silver nodded her head in agreement, "I think we all are."
Retrix turned to sit beside her, looking out over the valley. She watched him for a moment, wondering what he was thinking about. It was obvious something was bugging him, but she couldn't quite figure out what. She knew it wasn't the nerves caused by the pre-battle adrenaline.
"Hey," she said, gaining his attention, "Follow me. There is a place I want to show you, a place I used to go to a lot as a hatchling."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I had a lot of fun there. It helped me pass the time quickly," she smiled.
"I wouldn't mind that," he responded.
The two of them took off into the air, Silver quickly taking the lead. The glare was instantly back on her shell, but this time she couldn't care less. It had been a long time since she had seen this place, and she couldn't help but wonder if everything there was still intact.
At first she had a little difficulty remembering where the entrance was, but when she recognised the feel of her elronium nearby it was a rather quick find. She glided down to the ground and landed softly in a small clearing near an overhang in the mountain. Retrix looked around in interest, wondering what this place was for.
"Just give me a second," Silver said as she sorted through the many fallen leaves on the ground, slightly surprised that they were still managing to hide the entrance to her secret cave.
She found the handle of the elronium trapdoor she had made so long ago, and carefully opened it with her talons. There was a rustle as the undergrowth fell from the door, revealing a tight opening into a long and narrow corridor with elronium walls. The fire torchers that had been placed inside had long since gone out, leaving Silver a little disappointed, but she was sure they would be able to find their way regardless.
"Wow. You had your own secret passageway. That is cool," chuckled the void dragon.
"Wait until you see the inside," Silver responded with a smirk, "Assuming we both fit through."
She looked at the opening again and frowned. It was definitely a lot smaller than she remembered. Then again, she had grown a fair amount in the three years she had been gone. Slowly she eased herself through, keeping her wings as tight as she could to her side. They scraped the edge of the hole, but the metal covering prevented any damage, and she managed to get through without incident.
She let out a small sigh and hopped forward a couple of paces to allow Retrix room, and looked back. He approached the hole and tilted his head, thinking for a moment. While Silver was a foot or so longer than he was, he was thicker, more bulky, making it quite hard for him to try and fit through. Silver realised the predicament and let out a frustrated groan. It seemed she wouldn't be able to show him her little secret after all.
"Wait," he said as she began to turn around, "I got an idea. Just move forward a bit."
She did, wondering what he was planning. He took a step toward the hole, then jumped and disappeared. A second went by and a portal opened up behind Silver. Retrix leapt through and grinned at her. She laughed.
"Love my portals," he said.
"It definitely seems useful," she chuckled, "Now come on."
The two dragons began to make their way through the small corridor.
"You made this?" he said, looking around, "How did you make it so... square?"
"It was more rounded before I found it. But I spent some time carving out the rock and using elronium to cover the walls," she said.
"Wow."
"Took me about a year I think," she said with a small smile, "But I don't think I like it anymore."
He nodded his head, still impressed by her dedication into making even this small part of the cave. It made him even more curious to find out what was at the end of the tunnel.
It came to an abrupt end, opening up into a large open cavern big enough to fly through. Moss and tree roots were growing through a hole at one side of the cavern that looked to have recently collapsed inwards. The last drops of sunlight shone through the opening and down into the mountain, revealing a number of silver dragon statues spread throughout the area with there own elronium platforms.
Silver let out a snort of annoyance when she saw the collapsed part of the cavern, "That wasn't there before."
"Hmm, well these places do tend to have cave-ins from time to time," said the void drake as he walked around, studying the different statues, "This reminds me of your cave back at Sky Mountain."
She laughed, "Well, I think I prefer this place to that cave. Though I don't think it'll remain hidden for much longer though."
"Yeah, a pity. I can see why you liked this place," he said as he continued to walk around, "This one is only half done."
He gestured toward an unfinished dragon, with only the hind legs and most of the tail completed. Silver walked over to it, remembering the project. It was the last one she had been working on before the attack on the valley all those years ago. She could still remember exactly what she had wanted it to look like.
Opening her maw she breathed her metal at the half finished dragon. The elronium swirled and twisted in the air, forming around the project like a mini tornado. Slowly it began to take shape, the metal connecting with the unfinished torso, stretching out to create wings and continuing to finish of the head and forelegs.
She tilted her head, looking at it with a small smile. The now finished statue was a void dragon, standing on its hind legs with wings outstretched, looking to the sky as if it were in the action of taking off. The detail was almost perfect, besides the fact it was made from metal.
"Wow, you really are getting good at controlling your metal now," said Retrix.
"Yep," she said with a sigh, "But it does make everything so much easier. What you saw there would take me hours, days of work sometimes. It was a good time waster."
"Power tends to do that doesn't it," he said sitting next to her, "But it's still amazing. Metal dragons have some of the most useful abilities I reckon."
She laughed at that, "That may be true, but yours are pretty cool as well. Being able to teleport and all."
"It's not teleporting exactly," he said looking at her, "Just... moving through dimension."
"'Just moving through dimensions' he says," she chuckled, "Doesn't make it any less cool. And I'm pretty sure there are things that we haven't figured out yet that you could make use of."
He smiled at her, "Well there is one thing I haven't shown you yet."
"Oh? What is it?" she asked, curious.
"Watch."
The void dragon shook himself and closed his eyes, focusing on the area around him. A deep purple aura began to glow from him, spreading through the surrounding area. Silver took a slight step back as it washed over her, sending a strange shiver across her body, and everywhere the glow touched seemed to shimmer. The glow encompassed nearly the whole cavern, before Retrix opened his eyes and let out a large breath, as if releasing some massive strain.
Silver frowned as she looked around, wondering what exactly he had done. She turned toward him, titling her head. He grinned in response.
"I figured this out a couple of days ago actually, right before the... incident in the city," he began, "It turns out I can connect myself to the rift energy that separates this world from the void, and... manipulate it. Well... I've always known I could do it, but not in this way."
"So... what exactly have you done?" she asked, still a little confused.
"I've brought us... and everything in this room to a point... between the dimension that we usually live in and the dimension that is the void. It's like a halfway point," he explained, "But it's an extremely fragile reality. You could probably break out of it simply by breathing your element."
"Wow," she said, a little startled.
"The thing is, while we are here, we can see into the 'real' world, but they can't see us. But we can't really affect the real world from here either. It's too bad I can't use this in battle though. It's insanely difficult to do."
"I bet," she laughed, "So, besides becoming invisible in a sense, what else is new about this."
"Well, besides what I purposefully bring into this halfway point, nothing really exists here. If you step out beyond the point I've manipulated, so in this case, out of the cavern, you will break out of it and go back into the real world. Oh, and you can phase through solid objects while in this reality as well, which is pretty cool, unless you bring that solid object into this reality... which is the only reason we are not falling through the floor right now."
Silver looked at the ground a little startled, "Okay, I'm glad you did that then."
"And the best part about all this," he continued, "Well, what I think the best part is anyway, is that time doesn't exist here either. Time is continuing around us... but at this specific point it... or he I guess, doesn't exist."
Her eyes widened slightly, "So, anything in this reality, it doesn't age, or anything like that."
"Nope," he chuckled at her expression.
"And you were saying that my element was amazing."
"Hey, as I said, this ability is pretty much useless, unless I want to get some privacy," he said, "Or I want to escape from being chained down. But it still requires quite a bit of concentration."
She nodded her head, "That is very true."
She looked up at the roof of the ceiling. Moonlight filtered down through the hole, the sun having set while they were talking, giving the purple hue a more enchanting feel. Everything had a slight chill to it as well, but it wasn't cold. It was like the feeling one would have when swimming in a mountain lake. It was... refreshing.
"Thank you for this," Silver said, looking at him, "I've missed this place, more than I though I did."
He walked over to her and gently nudged her with his snout, "Well, this could very well be our last night together. I wanted to make it at least somewhat memorable."
She frowned, "What makes you say that?"
He was silent for a moment, looking up at the night sky through the caver roof, "Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow...?" she wondered if this had anything to do with what he had been thinking about when they met at her cave.
"Tomorrow, everything ends. This war, one way or another, will be finished," he sighed softly, "And... if I'm to be perfectly honest, I doubt many of us will make it through to the end."
"Retrix... don't think like that. We'll make it," she said.
He smiled at her, almost sadly, "I hope so. I really do."
They went silent for another couple of minutes, words not needed. Silver lay down on the ground, Retrix next to her, and they both watched as stars began to appear like lights in the night sky.
"Can I ask you something Retrix?"
"Sure," replied the void dragon.
"Why do you fight? Why do you want the human race to live?" asked the dragoness.
He was silent for a moment, as if thinking of an answer, "The human race... they don't deserve death any more than we do. I've lived with humans all through my life, and have seen them on many different levels. As a hatchling I played with village children in the Himalayas. Then I was running from humans, hiding and fleeing. Then I was killing them, fighting for my freedom, and then I was living with them again, but this time under captivity. Then there was Sky Mountain, and I found myself befriending them again. The thing is... I've had similar experiences with dragons. I've run from, fought against, been captured by, and befriended dragons as well. It's not like we are that different that they deserve to die."
He sighed softly, "The truth is... I fight because if I don't, then over seven billion lives will loose the chance to experience life, a life they deserve a chance to experience. If I don't fight then seven billion souls will never be able to love, laugh, cry and simply be, again. Yes, human kind has evil in them. That is as obvious as the sun in the sky. But every one of them also has a small amount of good, every single one, and as long as that is still there then they deserve a chance to bring it out. It's true I haven't experienced the worst of humanity, you've had it worse than I have. Eldawin's had it worse than I have, but I have seen the best of them. I have known them. There is one thing that every human being has done, and that is try to live to the best of their ability. The best way they know how, and I'm thinking, why do they have to be punished for that?"
Silver blinked. She hadn't thought of that before.
"So... why are you fighting?" asked Retrix, turning to look at her.
She hesitated, "I... I used to think I was fighting to protect those I cared about. To stop him from killing the friends I have made in human kind. Liam, Darren, Greg, all of them. And also to protect those that really haven't done anything to deserve the wrath of death. Most of the human race has little to no knowledge of us at all. But... but the more I fight the more it seems I just put the others I love and care about in danger."
He nodded his head slowly, "Silver... you are protecting them. I you didn't fight, I'm one hundred percent sure that Eldawin would have had the easiest time wiping everyone from the face of the earth."
"I think the thing I struggle with the most is... Eldawin has a good point. Maybe killing the human race is the only way for dragons to be truly free in this world."
"This isn't a fight between good and evil. It's a fight between who is right and who's wrong," Retrix replied, "Yes, Eldawin has a good point. I'll admit that, and I honestly slightly admire how far he's willing to go to achieve it. But the question you have to ask yourself is.... Is the freedom of our race worth taking away the freedom of another?"
"You've thought a lot about this haven't you?" she asked him.
"More than I care to admit," he chuckled softly.
"Well we better pull tomorrow off," she replied with a small smile.
"Yeah," he replied.
They fell into a small silence again. Silver felt something stir inside her as she studied the void dragon from the corner of her eye. She was glad she had met him. While their first encounter had been quite the violent battle, she couldn't imagine what her life would have been like without it. For the longest time she had wondered whether she had made the right choice. But now... now she was quite sure.
"You know," she began slowly, "I never told you this, but back when I was in the mental test at A.O.D.H, you were the reason I managed to break out of it."
"Oh?" he looked at her.
"It was because your scales were warm," she chuckled, "That was when I realised it had been all a trick."
"Really?" he said in slight disbelief, "That was the reason?"
"Yeah," she laughed slightly, "But before that, we spent the night together, and we... well... we ended up mating."
He blinked, surprised. They stared at each other, Silver feeling a little nervous but very excited at the same time. It was something she had never felt before, but she knew she was done waiting. If tonight would be their last night, then it was one she wanted to remember for ages.
"I love you," she said softly, "And if this would be our last night, lets make it something to remember."
She leaned forward and kissed the drake with a slight purr. He responded, kissing her back, and this time they didn't pull away from each other. That night, the two dragons spent their first, and possibly last, night together as one.
* * *
Molten elronium flowed through the air like water, slowly settling down on the surface of a smooth surface of shining metal. Heat moved through the machine as the final hole was filled in, leaving it complete. From the grooves in the surface a soft white glow emanated, coming from the massive element stone hidden inside.
Watching it happen was Eldawin, sitting in safety at the top of the large cavern that held the machine. It was done. He had finally completed it, after nearly a hundred years he would finally be able to see his dream become a reality. A smile crept along his maw.
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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed, though I know a number of you probably are a bit angry at me right now ;) Vote if you did and comment what you thought. I felt as though this chapter was a bit rushed, and that last bit was a little corny, but writing romance isn't one of my strong suits. Anyway, next chapter will be out soon, where things will truly begin. See Ya!
Pennator^^