by LJ Davies
She stared at him, harbouring no sign of aggression, seemingly searching for any shred of the dragon she once knew. Pyro stared back, his face uncertain for the first time, until something snapped within him.
"You're still blind!" he roared, slashing at her with a foreclaw.
She ducked, but she was unprepared for his unnatural swiftness and his metal limb threw her to the side as it came down again. She was flung into Risha, knocking the pair to the ground. In a flash, Boltock jumped forward, landing beside me, but even he hesitated when Pyro glared at us both.
"I know neither of you has the nerve to face me!" he hissed.
"No, but I do!" another voice interrupted.
Before any of us could react, several sharp darts cut between the plates of Pyro's armour.
"Sorry I'm late, I thought the battle was tomorrow," Neera announced as she flipped in the air and landed between us.
"You!" Pyro growled as he shook off her projectiles. "You filthy feathered wyrm!"
"Not just me," Neera retorted with an unexpected air of confidence, as, as if on cue, another larger dragon slammed into Pyro.
"Try doing battle with someone your own size, traitor!" Soaren declared as he pinned the ebon wing down.
"Hello, old friend," Pyro replied, swinging his tail around to sweep the air elemental's legs from under him.
The grey dragon floundered over his aggressor, and Pyro seized him in his claws, throwing him aside like a rag.
"How has the order been treating you? Can't imagine they’re any better now they've fallen apart," he hissed.
"Better than whatever dark monsters you've made pacts with," Soaren countered, swiping his tail to trip up the ebon wing.
The dark dragon anticipated his counter, and with a swift lunge, he caught it in his mouth and bit down, tearing the bladed armour off, leaving blood dripping from his fangs and Soaren howling in pain.
"The Orders are a joke, a mockery of our true potential. If only you knew what our kind really was, you'd understand that you are wasting your lives on a futile existence!" he berated as he spat the blade out.
Neera jumped up, sending several more darts into him as she leapt from boulder to boulder. Even so, he shook the bone blades off as if they were nothing more than biting insects.
"You know I'm right, all of you! You follow this weak coward!" he shouted, pointing an outstretched wing at me. "He's done nothing but lie to you. Even your Elders have lied to you for centuries, and your leader is a sly snake. Join the Great Master and he will show you the truth!" he exclaimed.
He makes good points on all accounts, is there even a good side left?
Soaren staggered to his paws, his head held low as if he may actually be considering Pyro’s offer.
"You were my friend," he coughed, voice strained by bitterness.
Pyro hissed purple fire through flared teeth, before lashing out to grab Soaren's neck in his jaw, tossing him back at us with more ferocity than a raging manticore. Jumping aside, I fell to the floor while Ember and Risha leapt up in horror. Emptiness filled Boltock's expression, and Neera's futile determination endured as she tried to battle the monster alone. Blood trailed through Soaren’s armour, and Pyro relished in his triumph.
"What are you waiting for?" Mordrakk demanded. "All you have ever wanted is to protect your friends. Now they know the truth, you cannot save them from it any more, only from him."
Without thought I slammed my horns into the ebon wing's midsection, while in the corner of my eye, I saw Ember and Risha rush over to Soaren. I drove Pyro across the open field, slamming him against a crumbling wall. He coiled back and lashed out with his tail, but I jumped over the scything weapon, landing on top of him claws first and wrapping my golden gauntlets about his neck.
"Good, good, he can't hurt them if he's dead, show him real power!" Mordrakk purred.
Forcing his head against the wall, I sank another paw into his empty eye socket, while seizing one of his horns in my mouth and with all of my strength, twisted him round until he ended up beneath me.
"Go on! Do it! You failed once, show them what you really are – you can’t hide it forever!" he spluttered, narrowing his eyes as if he were more than prepared to revel in the knowledge his death would beat me.
I froze, panting heavily and staring into his baleful eye, I staggered back.
"No! I’m... I told you before, I'm not like you!" I cried, desperately trying to believe that.
He growled, sprang up, and wrapped his metal claw about my neck, dragging me up to meet his fiery glare.
"Yes, you are, show them what you really are!" he bellowed.
My wings opened as I tried to escape, but he wasn't about to allow me another strike and slammed his other claw into one of my flapping limbs.
"I can't believe you would be so dishonest, and all this time you thought you were protecting them. You are no better than any of us, just like the Great Master always said," he proclaimed, slamming me into the wall over and over, before throwing my limp body to the others.
"Look at him! Your saviour, the one you chose to follow. Where has he led you? You're nothing more than a stricken band of weaklings with no hope of salvation!" he declared, as if to capture the attention of all of those battling about him.
The words almost seemed to silence the conflict, his message reaching the hordes of vulpomancers who unexpectedly retreated into the sky.
"And you!" he declared, pointing a foreclaw at me. "You’re nothing, you’re as much part of the darkness you seek to destroy as you are the one destined to stop it," he elaborated for all to hear. "If you follow him, you’ll all die! You believe in those legends and you will find a world no better than those described within them awaiting you!"
I opened one eye to see my friends around me. Not one of them dared glance down at my beaten and blooded form, and yet all at once they stepped forwards. Pyro scowled, fidgeting, and before he could add anything more, a torrent of fire consumed him.
"You know nothing of us anymore... You're a monster!" Ember growled as she coiled between us, her wings spread and teeth bared.
"Is that what they would have you believe?" Pyro asked as fire lapped his dark scales. "There are no monsters, just those that will endure and those that will die," he warned.
"You betrayed us all! We were your friends, I loved you and you had no reason to give that up," she countered, as if still desperate to reason.
"I do only what I must, and I know he will betray you all in the end," he explained, pointing at me again.
"Like you?" she retorted, and he returned a weak laugh as she pressed. "I don't see you battling to save us from extinction."
"Do you really think he's going to either? I never thought you were so naive, my love," he added with a hint of dissatisfaction.
She neither answered, nor moved. She simply stared at him with the same expression she'd bore the moment she'd found out the hatchlings were in danger.
"I didn't wish for it to come to this," Pyro finally sighed. "You’ll all die, if not by my claws, then by those of my master. You may bring your army upon the dawn, but I assure you there will be no victory."
"We'll take our chances," Neera hissed as we all watched him vanish like a ghost into the darkness without another word.
The sounds of battle faded as swiftly as they’d began, and I knew he'd achieved exactly what he'd come for, to expose the truth.
Then that's it, it's over. Not even my reputation's left to give them hope.
In the stillness, I shifted back to see Boltock and Neera. Soaren was picking himself up from behind them and Ember turned back to us with an utterly hopeless expression. One set of sapphire eyes in particular looked at me as if I were some kind of stranger, but she didn't say a word. I'd tried to save her from the truth, and now she knew.
I just hope it doesn't destroy her like it has me.
After what felt like an eternity of silence, I staggered away from them, running with no care for the pain coursing throug
h my body or the blood trailing from my wings. I ran and never wanted to look back, but it was too late, running wouldn't save me this time.
*
Moonlight poured over my battered scales as I flew toward the stars. Regardless, my bleeding wounds swiftly caught up with me, forcing me to land within the ruins of a watchtower high upon the snowy mountainside. I crashed within a crumbling circle of arches, scattering snow and frost as I came to a clattering halt.
This stupid armour, stupid body, stupid powers, stupid gods! Shaking off my arcane prison in a fit of rage, I sent the golden shards flying about me like autumn leaves. I don't want it; I don't want any of it. I just want things the way they used to be!
Panting hard I stared out over the fiery scene that marred the midnight plains. The thought of dawn crossed my mind and scorched it like the wave of flames I'd seen blast across this world in my dreams.
It can't be real. I can't let it be real! I staggered, feeling like I'd been stabbed. But what can I do to stop it? I can't save everyone!
"You know, once it might have been a beautiful view," Risha whispered, landing beside me.
I didn't even bother to lift my head. I'd heard this routine before.
"Before all of the smoke, the fire and whatnot," she added, a regretful expression gracing her face.
I found myself wishing for that beauty to return – the way I'd looked up to her, before the war and all the fighting. I recalled how I'd felt in the golden temple the moment she'd told me how she felt, my promise to her and how I'd broken when I saw her in my dreams.
"Pyro's alive, that's what you were hiding, wasn't it?" she continued.
"You know there are a lot of things I didn’t tell you," I finally admitted, not daring to look at her.
"I know and... I'm sorry," she responded. "I thought it was just you... After all, I saw Pyro die," she added, as if still trying to believe it herself.
"That's not it, though, is it? He isn't dead, and I know he should be because I was the one who…" I stuttered, my voice fading. "I did that to him. I've done this to all of you. I caused all of this," I cried, gesturing out over the fiery horizon.
She shifted toward me, a determined and completely fearless look in her eyes as I went on.
"I did that to him the night they sent me to stop this. The Great Master had us fight at Ilivar, and I..."
She placed a wing on my trembling shoulders.
"You did more than any other dragon could have done," she offered.
"That’s the point, isn't it? I'm not a normal dragon, I never was," I replied, wishing nothing more than to scream the words for all to hear, and yet my voice felt weaker than ever. "I didn’t want to tell you, because I made myself promise that I'd never let anything hurt you again."
"I guess that makes my lie to you no better," she admitted, swallowing the irony with a small laugh, before adding, "but nothing you did ever hurt me."
"Yeah, but I know you well enough to know that you'll just tell me exactly what I want to hear," I retorted.
She remained silent for a moment, and I forced myself to look at her.
"And why would that mean those things aren't true?" she reasoned.
I paused, only to lose my words as I saw my reflection in her beautiful eyes.
"Even if it is, it doesn't change anything. Pyro's still right about me, and if you knew everything that's at play here, you'd agree," I muttered.
"No. That wasn't Pyro. I know he could be demanding at times, but he'd never hurt any of us," she confessed.
"What about the night he died?" I asked, almost instantly regretting it. "You know the answer," I pressed, but still she said nothing. "If I hadn’t gone running off trying to save everyone, he'd still be alive."
"You did the right thing," she assured.
"Did I?"
"To you, everything I did was the right thing, you said it yourself. Every other soul I meet tells me that everything I do is some divine action! Tell me how they were supposed to be the right decisions, when so many of them have led us to this?" I finished.
She remained silent, watching me as if I were a stranger. Even so, I knew she wasn't afraid of me.
She's terrified of the fact I'm right.
"I should have stopped Tarwin leaving that day, because if I had, none of this would have happened."
"If that were the case, we'd have had to face this war without you, without hope of winning," she reasoned with more confidence and belief in her words than ever before.
I knew then that she wasn't speaking to me as she'd done for the past few weeks, but as a friend. I closed my eyes and opened my muzzle.
"I'm like them, no more than a glorified ebon wing. The day the creators made me, the Great Master was there, and whatever they did to make me, a part of him was drawn into the mix. I'm just as much a part of him as I am the other creators," I explained, hoping that the little information I had would help her understand.
"It's me. It’s always been down to me. Acrodan, the Sphere, the Great Master, they always needed me. That stupid amulet and me," I finally confessed. "From the moment he was defeated, he's been planning this. The Guardian War, what Acrodan did, all of it was just part of his grand plan. All that time he was waiting for me, he's the only reason I am here like this and not some energy drifting about the stars!" I struggled to even stop for breath as I gasped and jabbed a wing at the sky.
"I only exist to be his last hope of destroying everything. If we go to battle tomorrow and he gets that amulet, he can do exactly what he's been planning for thousands of years!" I confessed, trembling so much it was a wonder the ruin wasn't shaken to rubble.
Even so, I felt as if I didn't deserve anything more than to be buried in the darkness that pooled deep in the valley below. Yet the rustle of her wings broke the silence, her paws shifted and she finally looked up at the stars.
"You know, I never thought I’d be able to look at them in the same way again?" she observed.
I shifted, my gaze tentatively finding its way back to the night sky.
"I wish I could see them the same way I used to," I responded, and a smile parted her muzzle.
"No, before I thought they were nothing more than lights in the night, maybe a canvas filled with holes that had a bright glow behind it," she responded, her smile growing, before finally adding, "but that's not quite how I see them now. Now they remind me of you and how you've changed everything."
"You should have stayed back in the city that night I first left, you'd have been better off," I added.
She spread her wings, draping one over me with little care for the blood upon my own.
"Is that what you really think? You wouldn't even have made it to the southern edge of North Rim without me," she teased, edging up to my side.
I felt my mind conflicted as the warmth of her smooth scales met my own and her tail coiled about mine.
"I don't want anyone else to die because of what I've done. I want things to go back to how they were when everyone was happy."
She nuzzled my neck lightly. The warmth of her breath like soothing water, the touch of her wings like a smooth silk blanket across my back.
"You make me happy, and no god, no Great Master and certainly no white dragon that doesn't realise how important he is to his friends, can tell me otherwise," she stated with a firm and yet gentle tone.
She can't be... No, just forget it, be with her, just for this moment. Is it not what you want? A weak expression of happiness broke across my muzzle.
"What about you?" she asked knowingly.
I turned to her, our snouts nuzzling against one another.
"You know that you all mean everything to me. Far more than anything the creators could give me," I answered as our eyes met.
She nudged me back before glancing away with a wide smile.
"I doubt this big bad Great Master would be able to say that," she mused.
I fought not to allow myself to deny her the victory, but ultimately, I had to tell her th
e truth.
"He's only waiting, and I'm not his slave like Pyro or the other ebon wings, but..."
"But you are a dragon." Risha cut my speech short with a firm nudge. "You're kind, caring and the most loyal dragon I've ever met."
She really believes that, doesn't she? I looked at my forepaws as they shifted. How can I tell her she's wrong?
"That's just it though, if I live and anything happens to you, what will I have?" I asked.
She pressed a forepaw to my chest, before taking one of my own and pressing it to hers.
"I'm as immortal in here as you are," she declared simply, and I could feel a weak smile parting my muzzle.
"It doesn't change the fact that nothing lasts forever," I argued.
She let my paw go, and with a flick of her tail, moved my head so our eyes met again.
"Then you're my nothing."
Her tone was firm, without anger or the same whimsical joy I'd always seen in her. There was more truth and commitment in her words than a whole universe worth of life and knowledge.
Is this what the gods can't feel? This power is like nothing I've ever known, and yet it feels nothing like the rage and anger that's allowed me to burn down swarms of enemies or battle my way to victory.
I glanced away, casting my eyes over the fiery plains below, until finally, a small laugh left my muzzle.
Down there, across the cliffs and amidst the fire and smoke, was where she'd stood; a dragoness I hardly knew who'd refused to let me take off into the night alone, and for what?
"You know, for what it's worth, I still have no idea what love really is. I mean, I know, but..."
She cut me off by placing a forepaw over my snout, lowered it to the ground and settled her head down beside me. She slowly sank down, snuggling up close and spreading her wing to cover the pair of us.
"That only makes you all the better at it, you loveable idiot," she teased playfully, her snout resting right beside my own.
"Risha... whatever happens tomorrow, I want you to know... I love you."
"I think the feeling's mutual," she added, and with that, the pair of us drifted to sleep side by side.
*
Dawn arrived faster than I ever would have liked. I awoke to the sight of a red sunrise, beset by the fires of Andruid far below. Dark smoke rose slowly across the scene like a black scar over the otherwise peaceful landscape as the orkin poured out like dark water into a tidal bay. The crimson sky held far less beauty with the knowledge of what lay ahead; almost as if marred by the bloodshed that was soon to come.