Though it was Cylistine who taught him how to unlock the deepest parts of his heart and abandon his fear of love, the two are not together, for Cylistine's heart belongs to Eriesyi. As such, he is very much single. Though he is no longer locked in the great struggle with Eriesyi that occupied the vast majority of his time, Rakitanos has shown no interest in finding a mate of his own who can fill the void left behind in the wake of letting Cylistine go.
Rakitanos is a noble yet deeply wounded soul. Scarred by loving the something that could never be his own, damaged by the endless fight to keep it, the golden dragon understands many things that he keeps close to his heart. He realizes that the villainy in his tale belongs solely to himself and recognizes that letting Cylistine go was not only the right thing, but also the beginning of amends.
As much as Rakitanos loves her, he cannot bear to be her jailer or her thief any longer. Letting her go, giving her back, were in many ways proof of his affection. He wishes for her happiness and for Erieysi's forgiveness. Above all, he wishes them both long and healthy lives, carrying his loneliness and pain as punishment for his crimes against them both.
Today Rakitanos is a subdued individual, gentle toward those around himself and careful to appear as nonthreatening as possible. He is abrasive and cruel toward himself only, showing a considerable well of kindness toward others as continued penance for his actions. He does not defend himself against attacks any longer, nor does he initiate them. If others wish violence against him, he bears it in solemn silence until it has passed, wishing his assailants good health after they have gone.
There is no love in his heart for himself, nothing that he is willing to defend or protect. Though he will extend guardianship toward others, he remains only calm and accepting when he himself is struck out against. Though he is unfailingly kind toward those around him, Rakitanos offers no love to them and dares not to love again. He cannot bear the thought of Cylistine's pain being born again in another heart. Rakitanos firmly believes his own love to be a poisonous taint, and will be exceptionally difficult to lure into a relationship as a result.
The air was thick and heavy with smog and smoke from the burned out refactory, and breathing was about as difficult a task as walking. Twisted hunks of metal shot up from the ground like the bones of ancient beasts, rusted and rotting in a world where science had long since overcome magic and humans worked daily to reach the skies by any means possible. The higher your office building, the greater your station in life. If you could look out your window and see clouds instead of cars, you had succeeded.
Or so it was, before the greed and anger of powerful men and the dissatisfaction of the people they stood on reached a head. Civil wars had broken out all through the world and nations had gathered to try and pacify people who were tired of not being heard. Things escalated more and more over the years until finally, one rash man reached out and pressed a single button that started the end of days.
Millions of people died in the ensuing nuclear battle that none were wise enough or calm enough to avoid, leaving behind a ghostly world of ash and fire. Eighty years since the bombs began, a blind man would speak again and again of a fairytale that was popular when the world was green. He would sing the praises of what could rise from ashes, and nobody would listen.
One day, a color other than red came into existence on that world. With a glow of purest white and feathers made of hues long forgotten, Cylistine rose and began to walk her world. Those who saw her often had trouble understanding her, but the sight of her filled them with hope and reminded them of that beauty had once been a common word. The sound of her music soothed them, though for all the good she did, Cylistine was never meant to be from that world.
Following the instincts of an age-old race, Cylistine took flight and left the world that kept her egg warm for thirty years, and eventually found a world where green and blue could mingle among shadows without standing out. It was here that she first met Eriesyi. The fae was more lovely than anyone or anything Cylistine had ever met, with a humble grace that made her beauty stand out even more.
It was Eriesyi who led Cylistine through the world and showed her the ways of things and Eriesyi who taught her everything from kindness, to mischief. Together the phoenix and the fae travelled and helped those they met along the way – sometimes with a bit of a twist, just to keep things entertaining. Both of them were gentle even when they teased, making it very difficult for anyone to be overly upset if they were picked for a trick.
As time passed, the feelings between the two began to grow until Eriesyi finally brought it to the fore with a confession. With gentle nuzzles and the sweetest brushes, Eriesyi taught her phoenix friend about love as well. Things could not have been happier for the two, despite the fact they were hearing some rather disturbing reports from some of the travellers they met.
Something was stealing gold from richer kingdoms and causing lords and ladies alike to tremble. Since it didn’t affect the common people much beyond a bitter amusement that the rich were finally being made to feel the pinch of a tight purse, neither Eriesyi nor Cylistine thought to look into it – which in the end, proved to be their downfall.
For while they heard little about him, Rakitanos had heard more than his fair share about the beautiful Eriesyi and the exotic Cylistine. He had grown weary of all the talk about the phoenix and her glorious feathers, because they sounded far prettier than anything in his collection of treasures. He had spent centuries working on his hoard, carefully selecting the finest and most well crafted artefacts he could find from kingdoms around the globe – and sometimes even going so far as to leave his world and steal items from far off places, to make his trove more glorious than any ever seen. As such, to even imagine there being something that could outmatch his anally chosen and heavily guarded treasure filled the dragon with an almost incomprehensible rage.
Rakitanos knew he was overcompensating his inability to obtain a True Treasure by maintaining an incredible hoard, but it didn’t matter. He could not tolerate there being something that lovely out in his world not belonging to him. So the day came when he whispered the spells that guarded his cave just on the other side of the mortal plane, situated so close to Hell’s doors that even he knew it was dangerous, and made his way in hunt of a very specific prey.
Eriesyi and Cylistine were sleeping on the day the Dragon swept down upon them, the fae’s larger body curled up protectively around the small phoenix doing little to stop the claws that reached down and snatched Cylistine up from their nest. Waking instantly, Eriesyi screeched Cylistine’s name and chased after Rakitanos as he flew high and far toward his lair.
When the Dragon slipped from the mortal plane, Eriesyi did not give up. If nothing else, his vanishing from existence spurred her further. For three years, Eriesyi questioned fae and humans alike on Dragons and how to hunt them, how to find their lairs and, most importantly, how to kill them. During that time, Rakitanos came to learn the difference between metal and living beings. Cylistine’s tears troubled him on a deep level he could not comprehend, and while he could not bring himself to set her free, the Dragon worked just as hard in those three years to make Cylistine comfortable and happy in his lair.
Three years and seven months later, Erieysi was armed to the teeth with information and steadfast determination. She located the entryway between realms and, with information obtained from her fellow fae, she managed to pass through the gate. With the myths of humans and the rumors of her sisters, Erieysi stalked the misty shadows of Hell’s entrance in search of the cave where Rakitanos was sure to be.
Cylistine was sleeping on a pile of blankets and pillows that Rakitanos had gathered over the course of her stay, ranging from large body pillows to tiny fluffy things that were more a toy than a pillow. The blankets were anything from the finest designs to the softest or thickest he could find, ensuring her a nest of absolute comfort that Rakitanos often curled his own much larger body around. It was a new development, this method of keeping Cylistine warm, but he had discovered it to be one of the best ways to calm his often morose phoenix. More than this, he had come to truly enjoy simply being close to the female. It felt right to have her tucked against him so, but more than that it simply felt comforting.
That night, when the intruder spells went off, Rakitanos had been almost asleep, his head resting over Cylestine’s back as she murmured happily in her sleep, having had a better day than usual. Rising to his feet in a graceful motion. Rakitanos instantly set off the spells meant to capture those who would intrude.
Yet these traps failed, for Erieysi was prepared for them, and secondary alarms set off to tell Rakitanos he was dealing with a proper hunter. Looking down at Cylistine, the Dragon breathed a sleeping spell upon her from which she would not wake for three days, wanting time to dispose of the threat so she would not learn of it – the last thing the Dragon wanted was to upset her, which was something he would have reflected on had he the time.
Stepping from his cave in time to be met by the full rage of a fae scorned, Rakitanos snarled and took flight, blocking his entrance with an ancient Dragon spell that the fae could not overcome. Turning from the entrance, Eriesyi recalled what another fae had told her about Dragon magic: When the caster died, his spells would all fall with him.
After three years of fighting for this day, of slaving for the information she needed to face this moment, Eriesyi had nothing left inside of her but hatred for the golden beast before her. Somewhere along the way she had lost her love for the world, her beauty dimmed by an endless anger that caused those who had once admired her to tread carefully whenever she came close. Three years of wanting nothing more than to take her lover back from this filthy lizard had changed her in ways that could not have been more complete if they had manifested themselves physically.
With an almighty howl, the fae struck out and tackled the Dragon down by launching herself from a high rock outcropping, her wings adding force to the blow when she struck him. Together the two plummeted down to the ground, the Dragon’s great body causing a crack to form across the grey soil of the land, though neither paid it any heed as they snarled and tore at one another. Fur and blood flew as Rakitanos dug his teeth into his attacker, roaring as she answered by clawing out his nearest eye.
With a harsh thrust of his rear legs, Rakitanos threw the fae from him with such force that her body slammed against the rocks settled between his cave and the doorway into Hell’s first gate. The resulting tremor caused Rakitanos’ wings to fall back in fear, even as the door opened with the slightest of cracks. Mist sped through the hole and within seconds the door burst open and the Dragon snapped his wings out to resist the force of the wind dragging him toward that open door.
Knocked out by the blow, Erieysi had no such resistance to the wind, and the Dragon watched with wide eyes as she was dragged in before the doors slammed shut. The ensuing silence was deafening to Rakitanos, as he registered the fact that the one thing that kept his phoenix from being happy with him was gone. At first, this thought pleased him, before something else crept up in his heart and his wings fell.
He knew, deep inside of his soul, that his phoenix would never be happy knowing her fae was in Hell. Cylistine would fall farther away from him, and if he truly wished to see her happy then there was only one thing he could do. He was going to have to drag that bloody fae from the depths of Hell and just keep her in his lair too. Which was going to make for one really annoying day – not to mention the fact he suspected he was going to be forced to spell the fae very, very often to keep her from causing him more trouble once she was caught.
Still, Rakitanos knew it was the only way to make his Cylistine happy, so as annoying as it was going to get, he really had no choice. As he stepped to the door with the intentions of opening it, the fae’s body was absorbing shadows at a phenomenal rate. Having fallen to Hell while still alive, Eriesyi was transforming into a denizen of its halls, which was the only way that Hell could compensate something living within its gates. By the time Rakitanos burst through the doors, the fae was utterly unrecognizable. All of her color had been drained and turned to black, her body a mingled monotone that was so appalling it gave Rakitanos pause.
It was enough.
With a surge of rage and newfound power, Eriesyi lurched to her feet and charged the Dragon, taking him down as shadows fled out the open door. In the midst of their battle, neither Dragon nor once-fae paid heed to what was escaping all around them. So locked in their fighting were they, that time was lost to them both.
Three days passed and Rakitanos was growing weary of fighting on the defence, always pushing the fae back and biting only rarely. As much as he disliked her, for Cylistine he could not kill her, and worse, her blood tasted as dreadful as swamp water and poison. It was as Eriesyi was ripping off a large part of his wing that Cylistine stepped out of the lair, having woken to the sounds of screams and yowls.
Rakitanos, having thought Cylistine would sleep through everything, had only blocked the door from being entered from the outside, and so the phoenix had no trouble leaving and looking down at the golden dragon as he screamed at a black fury that seemed intent on killing him. Horrified for the Dragon she had come to care about, Cylistine did the only thing she could think of and started to sing.
As the song reached them, the motions of Dragon and Banshee grew slow and sluggish, until eventually both collapsed into a deep sleep. Eriesyi had her claws buried in Rakitanos’ back, while the Dragon was in an awkwardly twisted position, his maw reaching for the Banshee in what would have been an attempt to tear her off had he not fallen to Cylistine’s spell.
Flying down to the sleeping warriors, Cylistine picked her way over the misty battlefield and looked down at the black creature, wondering just what it was that had attacked her Dragon. There should have been no possible way for her to recognize Eriesyi, but there was something that the shadows failed to change about the fae.
Slinking closer, Cylistine brought her beak close to the black fur to confirm what it was she smelled, before fluttering her wings in confusion and concern. Somehow, this being was her fae, which simply did not make any sense.
Waking Eriesyi, Cylistine was tackled and licked down in greeting before she could manage to stutter anything out, which confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was her beloved Eri. Nuzzling into the black fur, Cylistine asked what had happened, and Erieysi told the tale as the Dragon slept on. Weeping for her darling fae, Cylistine had been about to explain something herself when Rakitanos came out of the spell, and Eriesyi attacked almost immediately.
Torn between the two, Cylistine backed away in confusion, before turning around and flying away from it all. She needed a moment to think – and what she found in the mortal plane almost had her plummet from the sky. Demons roamed the earth, women and children were screaming as villages burned, and the smell of rot that had been so prevalent on her home world hit her like a punch to the gut.
Realizing she could not choose between the Dragon and the Banshee while the world was like this – if at all – Cylistine began herding demons back toward hell and granting people hope and happiness during the day as those two fought without ever thinking to speak to one another. At night, she returned to them and forced them to sleep so that she could lock away what she had gathered, and give rest to the two who seemed destined to war for eternity.
During the night, after Hell’s Gate was closed once more, Cylistine would wake her Banshee and spend some time with her before putting her back down and waking Rakitanos for the same. When dawn’s light came, she would sing him back to sleep and leave, knowing that as soon as one woke, the fight would begin anew. With her difficulty with words, Cylistine tried every night to convince the two to try and speak to one another – and every night came back to more wounds on each of their bodies. In the end, the greatest comfort she could give other than putting them to sleep was to bring Eriesyi a lantern to protect her from the shadows that had changed her so completely.
With days and nights filled with different kinds of pain, Cylistine sang to the world and wondered just what there was to hope for anyway.
There was still a heavy scent upon the air that scorched the nostrils and made the throat tighten against the heat. The blazes had died away days ago, but the dry air had kept the embers burning hot. Just the right amount of wind would be enough to send the town alight again, if only there was anything left to burn. As it was, not a single structure stood amongst the ashes, but for a few skeletal remains.
Digging through the broad squares of ashes where homes once stood was both a dangerous and macabre act, but Rakitanos was not swayed by this realization. The people here were long gone or long dead, and if what he searched for had survived the flames then he wanted it before the other scavengers came when the embers had grown cool enough to be safe.
Twice now he had unearthed the remains of those who had failed to escape the firestorm that had struck this town to the ground, but beyond moving them to a kinder resting place, he paid them little heed. Brushing aside more ash, the golden dragon began uncovering more bones and sighed. He felt obligated to uncover the rest, to find what lay beneath and lay it somewhere peaceful, but the more he dug, the more confused he became.
These were not the remains of a person, or anything he had ever seen before. A shiver ran through him as he uncovered more ribs than he thought necessary for any living creature, and what looked like at least four more femurs than strictly appropriate. Shuddering, the dragon stepped back, eying the pile of bones with slowly mounting alarm. What, exactly, was buried in this house?
Just then, he noticed it. The glint of a deep blue jewel. Reaching out a paw, Rakitanos swiped away the ash and uncovered what looked like a set of jaws, clamped tight around his prize. He nearly reached for it regardless, when he noticed something very odd.
