by Aidy Award
This time he and his dragon were in full health and no mere bullet could penetrate his scales. He reared up to his full dragon height and shot a long hot spray of fire, protecting his team behind him.
Ace used his fire, taking all three out just as their shadows were swooping down on Neo’s head.
Ninsy was a champion with her sword. She sliced and diced, tossing decapitated heads like confetti all over the forest. She drew more symbols in the air with the tip of her blade and erected quick temporary wards, blocking the shadow warriors' paths.
The group tore through two dozen soldiers and their shadows with their combination of might, fight, and magic. Neo suppressed all emotion, only allowing the warrior dragon’s instincts to guide him in keeping Kady and the others safe and pressing forward.
Neo, dead ahead, Ace shouted into his head with their dragon mind-speak. Check out the weirdo wearing the black suit and sunglasses.
“That’s not a weirdo,” Kady cut in, “that’s an asshole who thinks he's a god. That's the cult leader.”
Neo was surprised Kady could hear them, but he didn't question anything anymore when it came to the wonder that was her powers.
“Whatever he is,” Zara growled. “He’s the head of this forsaken hydra. We take him out, the rest will fall easily.”
Neo found the target Ace and Kady identified. A dark hollowness filled his chest. It wasn’t fear, at least not for himself. The part of himself he kept hidden, even from Kady, the demon inside compelled him to do everything he could to get closer and attack the man with whom they’d crossed paths with so many times now.
He had hurt Kady and he was going to die for that transgression.
A growl grew from the deepest part of his chest. Swirling above the asshole's head was a shadow warrior. It wasn't any part of the man's own soul. It was Yvaine.
A hatred Neo had never known before stretched across his muscles and tore at his heart. He didn’t know how, but this lowly, puny, worthless human man had stolen Yvaine's soul and now had control of it.
He would kill the bastard. For Jett, for all the demon dragons she had saved, for the Black Dragon Brotherhood itself, he would kill that asshole.
A new rain of weapons’ fire barreled down on them, striking him in the neck, the chest, his shoulders. His scales bent and broke under the barrage of machine gun fire and his chest and shoulders became coated with blood, the new wounds coming faster than his power to heal them could handle. Still he pressed forward, knowing Kady had his back.
Her magic slashed out, no longer a shield, but a sword, a saber of light and fire. The shadow warriors weren’t fast enough to avoid her strikes. The soldiers weren’t cognizant enough to escape his claws and tail.
They were close enough now to see the sweat pooling on the face of the asshole. He was scared, and he should be. His death was imminent, and it would neither be quick nor painless.
They had taken out all the other soldiers and shadow warriors except for the final ten troops surrounding the lone man.
Neo would love to charge forward and sever the asshole’s jugular with his teeth, but he couldn’t leave Kady or the team exposed. One step, two. Closer they crept, Neo no longer feeling any pain from the weapons shooting at him.
The asshole raised a communicator to his face. Calling for backup now was futile. This day’s battle was nearly over. Victory would be Neo’s soon.
A helicopter sounded over the forest, its blades beating the air and bending the trees. Fuck, if they dropped a ladder as they had before, he would miss this opportunity to avenge Yvaine and Jett.
He shifted back into a man and pulled Kady to him. “Lend me your power, imbue me with the strength to take out our enemy.”
Kady stretched up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips. It tingled and burned the same as the very first time he’d touched her. Her magic flowed over him, into him, filling his heart and soul, until he was sure he would burst. He broke their kiss and roared into the sky, his dragon bursting back out of his skin renewed, healed, ready to take on the world.
“I love you, Neo,” she whispered and stepped back, stumbling. Ninsy caught her before she could fall.
His Kady was pale and exhausted. He must help her, be there for her, but she held up a hand and waved him off. “Go. Save the world, my badass dragon warrior, my soulmate.”
Her words filled him with even more power. He looked to Ninsy. Take care of her.
Ninsy’s nod was all he needed. Ace, give me cover.
Fuck, yeah. Let's hit those bastards with everything we’ve got. I'm calling in the cavalry. Apollo, Kur-jerkwad, Trip, get to the forest. We're going hunting. Ace called to the brotherhood and filled the air with fire. In only moments two more black dragons and a gold one swooped in through the trees and joined the fray. Match, who'd remained at Fallyn's side during the worst of the battle, jumped into the air and joined the air fight.
Neo spread his wings and burst into the air at full speed. The helicopter was dropping the rope ladder, and the asshole was already moving toward it. Neo only needed a few more seconds and he could tear the limbs from the man.
The shadow warrior that was Yvaine’s soul hovered, unmoving, until the asshole raised his arm and let a glowing amulet drop and dangle.
Neo’s soul shard. The piece of his soul intended for his mate, for Kady.
Bile rose at the back of his throat, filling his mouth with pure bitterness. No wonder the shadows and the owl cult had been able to track them down time and again. It wasn’t just Kady’s powers that attracted them. They literally had a piece of his soul.
The bastard pointed the shard at Neo and the shadow warrior screeched, rushing at him. He heard the shouts behind him for Zara and Fallyn to shoot the shadow warrior down, but their attempts missed.
If he could get the shard before the shadow of Yvaine attacked, at least there would be a part of him for Kady to have. A part of his soul to soothe hers when he was gone.
Three feet before Neo reached the bastard, the shadow warrior flew over his shoulder, skimming his skin and wing with its cold, dark touch.
Shadow warriors didn’t miss. They attacked their victims mercilessly with deadly precision. If his soul had not already been ripped from his body, he was not the intended prey.
A chasm of fear opened in his chest. If not him, then…
He twisted in the air mid-flight and watched in utter horror as the shadow of Yvaine tore through the air, aiming directly for Kady.
Nooooo. The light of his life could not be stolen. He beat his wings hard and shouted to Apollo to give him a push from the wind. He had to overtake the shadow in less than the blink of an eye, or all would be lost.
The shadow warrior screeched one last time and dove for Kady. Neo pushed his wings, his muscles filled with the power of a thousand dragons, throwing himself through the air, blocking the shadow warrior’s path an instant before it could hit.
For Kady.
Darkness blacker than the that of the deepest pits of Hell flashed before his eyes and a pain worse than a thousand cuts from a fire whip lashed through him. His soul was torn from his body and all the hatred and darkness of every being for a thousand millennia overtook him. The demon inside him emerged, obliterating both the dragon and the man.
Neo tried to reach out, call to Kady, to tell her how he loved her. In a final fiery blast, his thoughts and free will splintered and his mind, body, and soul shattered.
He was nothing but shadow.
Save the Dragon, Save the World
“Neo!” Kady screamed, pain tearing through her so deep she lost her next breath and vertigo sent her to her knees.
Neo’s body dropped to the ground, shimmering back into the form of a man. He lay unmoving in the dirt and grass.
The helicopter swooped away, having snatched up the owl cult leader. Ace and the other dragons in the sky sent blasts of fire, striking the metal, attacking the helicopter with fervor.
The ship returned fire which loo
ked useless, but then a dozen shadow warriors surrounded it. The asshole was getting away and the dragons were blocked from following by a wall of shadow warriors.
They didn't attack, but when a dragon tried to fly past them to follow the helicopter, they flew into the dragon's flight path, until he had to retreat or get his soul stolen too.
Without Kady to use her magic to protect them, the dragons couldn't do anything. Within seconds the helicopter was gone, out of reach and across the sky.
The shadow warrior that had been Neo's friend, the one that had stolen Neo’s soul, drifted up into the air and followed the path of the chopper.
An enormous black dragon sent a shot of fire toward the bastards and stayed airborne, slowly following the retreating enemy as they moved in the same direction as the asshole escaping in his helicopter.
The other dragons landed and surrounded Kady and Neo. Ace shifted back into his human form and pulled out his tablet. “I'm signaling the rest of the brotherhood to have them try to intercept that helicopter. Kur-jerkwad is going to track them as far as he can. They're already out over the ocean with no sign of a place to land.”
Kady pulled herself up off the ground, rushed to Neo’s side, and dropped beside him, throwing her arms around his neck. His chest moved up and down and she could feel his pulse in her tight grip on him, but there was no light in his eyes, no spark of his soul connecting with hers.
Where was Neo’s soul, or the shadow warrior it had become? She blinked, holding back the tears, and his form, a dark and smoky shape, appeared. It hovered above her, pulsing as it grew, a mass of unformed, liquid shadow.
“No no no no no no no. Neo, you come back to me right now. You cannot do this. You cannot leave me alone.” Kady raised her voice to the sky, seeking to connect with the stolen soul. It shimmered, growing less translucent and more shadowy by the second.
“Neo,” she shouted at the shadow forming before her eyes. “Don’t do this. You are mine and I am yours. Please, Neo, please. Come back.”
Kady pulled his slack body into her arms and rocked him, crying out his name, pleading with him to return over and over.
She’d been abandoned by everyone who should have been important in her life, wounded and scarred by the missing connections stolen from her before she could even remember. She’d survived on her own, building a lonely independence around herself. She hadn’t thrived. Not until Neo.
“Please, universe. Please don’t take him from me now.”
The new shadow warrior screeched like a hurt animal lashing out. Deep in her own broken soul, Kady knew he was in terrible pain. She tried to call up her magic, wrap it around him, soothe him in her light. If only she could reach him, maybe she could pull him back from the abyss forming between them.
All she could manage was a warm glow across her skin, that she wrapped gently around Neo’s body.
The new shadow warrior, the thing that used to be Neo, screeched again, louder this time, and dove toward her.
“Kady, look out.” Fallyn shot a steady stream of magic at the shadow warrior.
“No. Stop.” Kady raised her hand, pulling from the depths of her being to call up the magic that had been there only moments before.
Her hand glowed a deep red, but the magic wouldn’t do her bidding. She wanted, needed to block Fallyn's magical defense and protect Neo’s soul.
Without his light mixing with hers, adding to her power, she had nothing. Her heart sank through the emptiness inside of her leaving only a sad, angry desperation in its wake.
The shadow warrior weaved around Fallyn’s magic, bearing down on Kady. Zara added her amber light to the battle, deflecting the shadow a fraction of a second before it could hit.
It recoiled, and dove at her, two, three, four times. Fallyn and Zara formed a shield overtop and around her. Ninsy reinforced the shield with a new ward.
Still, the shadow warrior beat down, frantic to get to her.
“Neo.” Kady reached up, holding his body in one arm, grasping for his soul with her other.
She could see the form of his face in shadow, beautiful, strong, brave, but angry, so angry. He clawed at the magic around her.
He wanted her soul.
He wouldn’t have to steal it. She’d readily give it to him. She already had.
What if she stood up, pushed through the barriers between them and allowed him to take her?
A calm settled over her, extinguishing the last bit of light inside her. What was the light without Neo, anyway?
She lay his head and shoulders down, touched her fingers to her lips, and then to his. Standing forced the shields around her to expand. They fluctuated and thinned. As if Neo’s shadow warrior understood her intentions, it doubled its efforts to get to her, shattering the ward.
Kady pushed her fingertips through the open edges of the ward, touching Fallyn and Zara’s magic.
They yelled, but their voices were muted, filtered through a thick layer of grief. Didn’t matter what they said, anyway. Kady pushed through the swirls of red and amber light.
Take me, Neo. Take me with you.
The shadow of Neo grabbed her hand, burning her from the inside out. The pain ripped through her, weakening her until her knees gave out. Her body dangled in the air, held aloft by the grip Neo’s dark soul had on her.
Her thoughts fell away, leaving a misshapen anger behind. She wanted to scream, but her lungs had seized.
“Kaden.” A strong voice yelled out, reaching through the blackness. She was hit from the side. Her body hurtled through the air, being snatched, torn away from the grasp of the shadow.
She crashed to the ground, her glasses falling into the dirt by her head, her eyes flooded with dappled forest sunlight.
The air whooshed back into her lungs and a cool light soothed the injuries to her hand and soul. The shadow of Neo's soul drifted away like smoke on the wind.
“Kaden, m’lady, are you all right?” A man, a buck-naked one, was sprawled out on top of her, running his hands over her arms, face, and hands.
“Get off me.”
Match and Ace grabbed the man by his shoulders and yanked him to his feet. But Fallyn and Zara didn’t move to help at all.
Kady rolled away, grabbing her glasses in the process, and shoved them on her face. Who was this naked man, and why had he tried to stop her from giving up her soul?
She looked him up and down, avoiding his package as best she could. He had spiky hair, a short, but cute, stubby nose, and brown eyes she recognized.
“I’m not a threat,” he said to the men holding him, “Kaden is my mistress. I was only trying to save her.”
Match looked to Fallyn who nodded, her mouth hanging open wide. They released him, and he reached his hand down to help Kady to her feet.
She shook her head and he sat on the ground beside her. “Don’t cry, sweet Kaden. You can rub my belly if it will make you feel better.”
Rub his belly? The only belly she’d ever rubbed while crying was…
“Percy?”
“At your service, m’lady.” Percy winked and dipped his head in a bow.
She looked at her hands but didn’t feel the magic there. She couldn’t have done this. Both Fallyn and Zara shook their heads when she asked them with a glance.
“But... you’re a hedgehog.”
“When you needed me to be your companion, yes, I was. I am your familiar. I am whatever you need me to be. Now you need a Spock to your Kirk, a Chewie to your Han, an R2 to your D2.”
He spoke passionately and raised a dagger into the air. It looked like the knife-like weapon the owl cult leader had pulled on her.
“Be careful with that.” He might look like a muscled, well-endowed naked man, but he’d been a pet up until a minute ago.
“I was kind of hoping it was a light-saber.” He lifted the dagger over their heads and pushed a button, but nothing happened. He sighed and let the weapon fall to the ground. “I always wanted to be a Jedi, ever since the first time yo
u played the Star Wars movies for me and fed me popcorn.”
Kady wrapped her arms around herself. “That’s funny. I always wished I were a Jedi too. Now I have powers just as badass as the Force, and they didn’t do me a damn bit of good.”
“But, m’lady, what do you mean? This is the moment you’ve been waiting for your entire life. You have to rescue your Han from the evil clutches of Jabba.”
She shook her head. The tears she’d held back earlier pooled at the edges of her eyes. “The only way to save Neo is to free his soul by killing his body. I just can’t do that.”
Percy tsked. “Now is no time to let your fear turn you to the Dark side. Look where that got Anni and Amidala.”
She turned away from Percy. All she wanted to do was hide from the world again. “Get your head out of your butt. This isn’t a movie.”
Percy stood, towering over her. He pointed and shook his finger at her. “No, m’lady, you get your head out of your butt. You are a witch, a descendent of a powerful line of Romani witches. They died defending you and your sisters so that you might live and fulfill your destiny. You are a warrior. Be one now.”
She shook her head, ignoring his words. It was probably only a story he’d seen in a movie anyway. Sure sounded like one. “I’m no warrior.”
Ninsy came over, patted Percy on the butt and joined her on the ground. “Your name, Kaden, means warrior. It is who you are. There’s power in names, so whether you believe it or not, you are a warrior.”
She didn’t feel like she could fight anything. “A name given to me by a family I’ve never even met. It has no meaning, and I certainly don’t have any power, with or without it.”
Fallyn joined them, making them into a small circle of women. “You have more power than you know. I didn’t put it together when Ninsy said your name, when we first met, but now I know who you are. You come from a long line of witches. Your mother was a witch.”