A Dragons' War

[Stormelle]

A large dragon laid, green eye open slightly, red scales shinning the mourning sun. As Pip lifted her head up she took in her surroundings, she seemed to have landed in the ice lands. Shades of blue and white meet her eyes as she shuddered and moved her left wing to view a silver haired girl, curled into a ball, her clothes red from her wounds and others’. Letting out a cooing noise Pip put her nose to the girl’s face, blowing warm air onto her, “Cerast…Awake…The sun shines upon a new day. New hope may come my brave little one.” Came the dragons’ voice, clear as a bell, and strong as an ax.

Cerast'aonas’ body shook as a sorrowful reply rang within Pip’s head, “Know you not the pain I feel? It hurts…I wish to lie here and die.”
Pip sighed and curled her tail around Cerast, green eyes fixing onto the girls’ silver hair, “So many have died already…And to save you, do not kill what they gave to you little one.” Came Pips’ reply before she stood, letting Cerast feel the coldness of the snowy battle field.

Cerast shuddered, not opening her eyes but pushing herself into a sitting possession, cover her eyes with her hands. Pip sighed, “Very well child, I shall bring food, you can think while I am gone.” The red dragon said as she spread her wings and launched into the air.  

[Kaito Hikari]

…Nightfall brought him back along the rim of the high, narrow bluff that dropped away into the blackened sea. No longer, could he display the use of magic or his presence would be known. Below, where he traveled, the waters of the Nevisin Divide crashed against the cliff walls, sea birds wheeled and shrieked above the white foam. Travelers knew the Divide as a danger; disguising itself as a channel, monsters would pull weary travelers into its abyss. Mythos made camp in the Monarse Pass, close to where a stream of fresh water trickled down out of the mountain rock. He quietly gathered materials for a fire, after finishing his preparations he struck a small flint and ignited a fire. The pass was silent, the sound of insects could not be heard, rather the crashing of the Divide in the distance. He glanced at the flickering flame with askance, an awkward sense of respite and anguish created a sense of uneasiness to stir. Memories of times passed filled him with anger, his features tightened and he shook his head slowly in disagreement. It had been several years since his encounter with the Dark Lord, banishing the demon to a realm unseen, he remained uncertain for how long such a seal would remain. It was this reason he traveled such a distance, but also for a much darker purpose…

-His eyes flashed open with quiet respite, the image of the death burning brightly before him. The memory lingered a moment more and dissipated into darkness. The crackling of the fire brought him back from his fatigue; his eyes traced the lines of fire that drew from the flame. He had traveled for several days without rest, being who he was he had not required it, but being amongst the earth he felt bound by the limitations of humans. He was superior, an Angel, more descriptively defined as the Seraphic God. It was a feared presence, one that was once unleashed upon the world and all life had been cleansed; such a form contained massive power and under its concealment the power resided within him. His need for sleep, for hunger, for the virtue of life had diminished and he became without need or desire. He pondered it a moment, was what he truly felt the earth bound presence of fatigue? Or perhaps what was perceived as fatigue was actually the disregard of what time had meant; in any case, he had rested for the evening until the fire had extinguished.

Morning had at last come and before the sun had touched the peaks of the ridge line his belongings were gathered and he had begun traveling yet again. Mid-morning came and went, and the heat grew oppressive. The time of day was hardly noticeable through the haze of the diminishing land. As the sun lifted from behind the rim of the mountains the breezes from the ocean died away completely. The air grew still and the currents went silent. The God continued to follow the rocky trail leading upward toward a large cliff mass. The seabirds were gone to roost, waiting for the chill of the evening to return. What was left of the land and its hidden life grew silent. The only sound was the now sluggish lapping of the waters of the Nevisin Divide against the rocky shores, a slow, weary cadence. On the horizon, clouds began to build, dark and threatening. He was certain there would be a storm before nightfall, if he had used his magic his presence would surely be detected and with discomfort in knowing he silently continued.

The clouds had at last consumed the sky, blocking any visible light from view; a soft breeze began to carry the scent of rainfall. The heat faded and a chill quickly consumed its presence. It was difficult to determine whether nightfall had came or if it was simply the thick clouds that lined the sky, in either case Mythos pressed on until he arrived a small overpass leading into the Forest of Anar. Rather than testing time he quietly made camp and seated himself against the cliff wall. Closing his eyes he felt himself drift off into a sleep for the first time…

Suddenly he came awake and rolled to his fee; it was early yet and it was obvious that night had only fallen moments ago. The fire crackled beside him, its glow undiminished. His eyes traced the shadows cast from the fire; a small snapping of a branch had caught his attention and he wheeled around to acknowledge it. His hand by instinct set on the handle of his blade, he remained still unmoving. His nerves were calm and his features stern, the Angel remained there for several moments before shifting his weight to his right foot, positioning himself for an attack. The silence was broken by a rough scraping of nails on rock. It had not bothered to hide its presence; the scraping grew louder, more prolonged, as if whatever approached was dragging itself. Mythos moved to put the fire and the beast between him. It was then a hideous, misshapen face moved into view. A muscular, bulky body of raw flesh moved with the head until the entire beast had been visible. It had the torso of a wolf, its bristling grey hair dampened with moisture from the rain, its dark muzzle opened to reveal a line of teeth. The remainder of the body was twisted with a human’s, its forelegs and forearms with hands and fingers and its body layered in raw skin. The misshapen fingers had claws, the head was of a human but if something or someone had fitted it with a wolf’s mask and worked it like clay to force its fit. The beast reared its head back and let a long howl to the sky, its head dropping back down to lock onto the Angel.

It bolted towards him, lunging straight for his throat, but the God was much quicker than the beast and swiftly dodged the attack. Stepping back and mounting his stance the Angel again positioned himself between the fire and the beast. He glanced back as the creature slid to a halt and turned to face him again; its muzzle drew back further to reveal long rows of hooked teeth, and the glittering eyes seemed to brighten in delight. It lunged again at him; this time he drew his blade and cut cleanly through its torso, splintering the fabrication of skin lining it and severing it completely. The large body fell dead to the ground, its head landing several feet from its remains. He twirled his blade to clean the thick coat of blood and replaced it into its sheath. Mythos darkly glanced at the limp form of what use to be Wirebeast and scoffed, the lone warrior was alone once again, silence again settled…-

 

[Stormelle]

Pip’s scales glistened in the light as she searched for prey, her green eyes spotting a small cloud of smoke drifting up in the distance. She hissed wondering who would dare be so close the-would-be battlefield.

Landing with an almost silent thud Pip advanced, keeping to the moist and soft ground, keeping her large claws silenced. She moved to where she could see the fire, a corpse of a large wolf like beast meet her eyes. Then she spotted a man, he was taller then Cerast but only slightly and he was, after all, an Angel. Growling she took off ignoring the fact that she had not been silent at all.

She moved through the air with swiftness unknown to the rest of her kind, eyes scanning the ground below her till she spotted Cerast. Folding her large wings to her sides’ she dived down, opening her wings and back winging to land safely. She moved swiftly toward Cerast, her green eyes fixing on her rider. “There is an angel over the crest…We must move for I know not his motives Cerast. Hurry!” Pip said as she nudged Cerast to her feet.

Cerast’s eyes watered, “I wish…I wish I could give them a better place of rest.” She whispered but was not allowed to for Pip snapped in anger, commanding that Cerast mount her. Cerast moved to mount Pip and then heard somewhere, someone, moan her name. She glanced toward Pip but moved away too swiftly for the dragon to snap her up and force her to ride. She moved her ears keen to any noise. She swiftly spotted a figure she knew all to well. Pushing a few dead off of the young boy and hugged him tightly, tears falling from her cheeks. Rish…Oh Rish.” She whispered in a weak voice.

The boy grinned slightly, his blood red eyes narrow and flicking open and closed out of tiredness. “ Ce-rast…” he gasped out once more. Cerast smiled briefly before laying his head in her lap and summoning upon her magic , placing her left palm on his left shoulder she muttered the word of healing. “ Stop it…” he gasped out. “ Let me die with the knowledge of knowing I saved you. That I was able to see your pretty face one last time.” He whispered.

Cerast shook her head and grabbed his hand tightly, “ You will live. You will live to be mine.” She said as she put his slightly cold hand to her cheek. Pip moved in next to her and grimaced.

“ You cannot heal him by yourself little one. Let us go.” Pip said in a commanding voice.  

[the friendly fiend]

Elijah looked across the barren landscape with ease, she had seen this place before. In a dream, a memory? No, the gates of her memory at last had granted her permission. She closed her eyes as she slightly leaned upon her staff with edge. War cries emanated from her mind like forgotten songs as she continued to remember. Swords clashing and bows stringing and monsters for men roaring angrily. And then...there was the roar. The roar of Aedreath, her best and most loyal companion...the dragon. He breathed fire through mouth and nose, but not only fire, poison fire that had been a gift that his line of dragons held. The line of the Sin Dragons. Aedreath Sin, that was the name that was given him, Elijah's best friend and companion. Aedreath screeched in the sky as Elijah, riding Aedreath, raised the skull-headed staff, with feathers and ribbons hanging off of it, into the sky as Dark magic clouded the sky with fierce wind and purple fireworks of rolling rampage.

Suddenly Aedreath nudged her calmly as she opened her eyes immediately and gasped. She drew breath from the crisp air as she looked over the edge of the cliff one last time. She walked forward slowly, her long black hair flowing behind her softly as the wind drew close to her. She looked around at Aedreath with her blue-gray eyes that seemed to suck everything into her vision. She stepped forward once more, leaning against her well-known staff again. Her short reddish-pink armored skirt clanked slightly as she looked down at the necklace that hung loosely over her silver breastplate. Her great-Aunt, the first to behold of dragons, had given it to her specifically. It was meant to bring her luck and loyalty with Aedreath, but she kept it for other reasons. She adjusted the chains that crossed over her body and hooked on to the black armored shoulder pads, laden with writing of ancient design. Her silver boots that went quite a few inches higher than her knees dug into the cold, hard ground as the soothing wind blew upon her bare legs.

She turned around to Aedreath and he brought his head up to look at her. Most of his scales were dark red, but his wings were black and his tail faded from red to black. His eyes were the color of emeralds, telling her when danger was approaching. He was a large dragon, one of the largest of the Sin line of dragons. His feature brought upon fear to those who feared him. It was so simple, yet frightening to those who did not understand dragons.

Elijah, he spoke to her mind with ease, there are other life forms here besides us. He looked to his left as his massive dark red claws gripped the earth tighter. She looked to where he had been gazing, but saw nothing as they both looked back to each other.
"I see..." She said, "...and yet I do not." She glanced down at the ground as she stepped towards her left and looked in the direction they had glanced at together. She narrowed her eyes as she dug her staff into the ground with force. What is out there? She asked herself.  

[Stormelle]

Cerast looked to Pip, her pale eyes shinning weakly as she nodded and heaving Rish from the ground, despite his protests, and put him onto Pip’s back. Mounting her friend she lopped one of the saddle’s leather straps around Rish and smiled at him reassuringly. “You will live.” She whispered to him.
Pip let out a loud roar, which emanated through the valley, as she crouched down, her red scales shinning in the mourning sun as she flexed her hind legs and took off. Her crimson scales shinning as if they where jewels as Cerast hugged herself and Rish to Pip’s arrow dynamic body.  

[the friendly fiend]

Elijah suddenly heard a roar, and without a doubt, Aedreath had heard it as well. As soon as they had heard it Elijah looked in the opposite direction she had been looking and as Aedreath spoke out loud suddenly, "A roar--"
"To the East." She had quickly replied before he could finish. They looked to each other as he nodded in certainty. She ran and jumped on his back, sliding against his smooth scales with ease. Aedreath started to flap his giant wings as he let out an ear-piercing roar of a dragon. Elijah attached her staff into a holder that she had fit in between her armor on her back which held her staff tightly.
She looked to the East as Aedreath took off, his green eyes, scanning the life forms that he had sensed...and...the other dragon.  

[Stormelle]

Pip's eyes narrowed slightly as she heard the other roar, letting out a faint growl, she tucked her wings to her sides and then dived down toward the ground. As she neared the ground she opened them, allowing her to glide slowly over the green grass which was becoming less and less blood soaked as they neared the moutains.
Where are we going questioned Cerast to Pip as the dragon landed with a thud and began to pick her way up the moutain, gripping it with her large claws.
The dwarves can help him...Even if they don't want to they have enough respect for you and myself that if they don't they know the consiquences. Plus...That other dragon doesn't sound friendly. She said with a snarl.  

[the friendly fiend]

"Aedreath..." Elijah whispered, as Aedreath turned his head slightly to her to let her know that he was listening.
Are they afraid? Or do they have something more important to do than to wonder who a stranger is? Elijah questioned Aedreath, he too had noticed that the other dragon had been now sensed farther away.
It seems they have the reasons of both, Aedreath said back to her. Elijah wondered to herself, in which Aedreath could still hear her, so what is the choice? Do we follow or abandon? Do we help or conquer?
A very hard decision you choose for yourself, are you sure that it is that simple? To follow is to abandon what we leave behind, and yet to abandon is to follow someone else's footsteps. To help we conquer, and to conquer, we must help. Aedreath told her with ease, she replied, I see your point, let us go, and with haste.
Aedreath's roar was not so loud and angry this time, but almost gentle, the kindness of a dragon that wishes his rider to follow and abandon, help and conquer.  

[Stormelle]

Cerast hugged herself and Rish to Pip's neck avoiding her neck spikes and saying quietly, " It sonds better then idiots who try would try and kill you if I wheren't there..." as Pip turned her head back giving her a questioning look Cerast grinned inncently. Pip raised an eyebrow slightly but ignored Cerast comment as she proceeded to move toward a large cave like opening hidden behind several large rocks that where on a cliff.

Pulling them up onto the cliff Pip used her large tail spikes to help her pull the rocks aside, for though a dwarf could easily move through the gaps inbetween the rocks anyone or anything else would have difficulties.

Sharp cries of surprise and indignation meet their ears, " DRAGON!" came the cry of a shocked dwarf who had been standing gaurd.

Cerast rolled her eyes and slid from Pip's back, still holding Rish, " I don't care if you don't like dragon but your healers will help me tend to my friend."

The dwarf seemed to growl, " You...Your the-"

Cerast cut him off by surprising him when her eyes began to glow. " Do as I say or me and Pip will not help you ever again." The dwarf gulped, bitting his lip.

" Fine...Come in...But that dragon can't come. " he said as he waved his spear at Pip.

" Then have your healers come here or take my friend to them because I do not leave my dragons side." she said as she layed Rish down on a stretcher which four dwarf, who had scurried out of the depths of the cave, picked up and began to take away. " There's a another dragon in the vasinity so my and my dragon will stand gaurd outside." she said as she moved back next to Pip, who dragged the stone she had moved early, back into place.

I thought you didn't want to face the other dragon? Pip said with a questioning look.

" I don't but the dwarfs are already pushy enough...We should support them if they do as we ask..." shesaid as she mounted Pip and waited in anticipation.  

[the friendly fiend]

As Aedreath glided across the sky, Elijah looked around again. The other dragon had stopped. Do we approach them with fear-or with confidence? Aedreath asked, waiting for his rider to reply. Always with confidence. Elijah answered her friend. She raised up one of her hands and pulled back the tight sleeve that always gripped her wrist. Small black writing lined her entire arm as she closed her eyes and pulled the glove back over on top of her wrist. It had been written there when she had been born, nobody knew what it meant, except Aedreath, but he refused to tell her at the time.
Elijah kept her eyes closed as she whispered one of her mother's sayings that always comforted her, "The birds will always sing." It was unusual, but it soothed her. She grabbed her staff from her back and raised it high in the air as she whispered the words, "Lato Alumni." Suddenly purple and white light burst up from the head of her staff up high into the air in a little ball that the light swirled around. It was a sign of peace.
Hopefully, the other dragon and it's rider will see we mean no harm. Elijah thought to Aedreath.
Peace, give us hope. He answered.  

[Stormelle]

A cold wind seemed to ceom from no where as a sudeen burst of light purple crossed the sky, "What was that?" whispered Cerast as she leaned forward, waiting for Pip's reply.

A sign of peace...Something any dragon rider must know...Now, you do. She seemed to say the last part with a small laugh as she opened her wings. Shall we go to meet them? she questioned.

Yes, and we should hurry I can here the dwarves growing restless... Cerast said before hugging her body to Pips neck as she took of and began to gently glid toward the direction of the peace symbol.  

[the friendly fiend]

As Elijah replaced her staff in it's right place, she rubbed her hands against Aedreath's scales soothingly. His tensed up wings seemed to relax as they glided lower towards the ground. She looked around again, saying nothing.
Then...she saw them. A red dragon glided towards them as well. All she could see from where they were at, the rider was a woman. Together they looked fierce if they wanted to be, but there was another side to them, a side that they showed compassion. For Elijah it was hard to tear her eyes away from the scene, but Aedreath glided faster towards them.
(Sorry its so short, my imagination was poopy today.)  

[Stormelle]

Cerast's hair billowed elegantly as Pip flared her wings back, backwinging, to come in for a graceful landing. Cerast dismounted swiftly and put her hand to her blade, ready for anything.

Pip hissed in annoyance, Relax child, if they break they're peace sign it will set them aat a disadvantage, if we break our acceptence of it the same will happen to us. This is something any dragon rider must know. she said and then grinned very slightly. Now, you do.

Cerast shot Pip an annoyed look but nodded and let her hand fall to her side.  

[the friendly fiend]

Aedreath descended down quickly and then, just about ten feet off the ground, he slowed, his wing flaps became more steady and more forced to support him, but he landed softly, he kicked up the little snow that was left in the process. Elijah carefully and calmly climbed off of Aedreath. He looked at her as she grabbed her staff once more, she walked closer to them, running her hand along Aedreath's neck as she went. She never walked past his nose, she stopped when she reached his eye. Elijah let her staff sink into the dirt as she bowed to the dragon and its rider slowly.
"My name is Elijah, daughter of Elias Rose, I am this dragon's rider. This is Aedreath, of the Sin Dragon line. May I ask of you what your names are?" Before hand she had seen the rider reach for her sword, an act of defense? Elijah questioned. Protection...maybe. It would seem that they do not pose a threat to us, if we should befriend them of course. Aedreath replied, they both looked to each other as Elijah laughed slightly and replied aloud, "Then let us hope we can afford the same hospitality." She looked back to them and smiled softly.  

[Stormelle]

Cerast narrowed her eyes very slightly as Pip lowered her head in greeting, "Pardon my rider, she has other affairs on her mind...I am Pip, my parents where both rouge so I don't know the line of which I decend. My rider, is Cerast, daughter of Lord Anamikis." then Pip fell silent, her large green eyes moving toward Cerast.

Cerast whole body was stiff, she hadn't come acrosse any other friendly riders in a LONG time. The last rider she had been faced with had meet his end through Rish. It had pained her to watch the rider fall and then hear te pained cries of the dragon as it attempted to heal it's rider and was killed during this time.

Finally she bowed slightly, her body still stiff and her face emotionless, "I would offer a place for you to stay but as it is the dwarves are reluctent to take me and my friend in..." then she trailed off in silence, unsure what to say.