Dragon's Light

Epic battle of Darkness and Light. The goal is either to rescue Edvard, or kill Tao...or maybe...Both? (SEE Ari, it's posted!)

 

Dragon's Light 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Tao's   Perspective  

   "You did what?!" Kaydra shouted me, the heat of her anger breaking over me like tangible waves.

 

  "I-I  touched the Light orb." I said, cowering beneath the force of her rage. "It see-seemed okay at the t-time, 

"you know, since it didn't react to anyone else and-and it went out when I touched it and now... " I lifted my new, white-feathered appendages and finished lamely with "Wings."  as I pointed out, the glowing runes that had suddenly appeared on my skin.

  

   "Oh, Tao...." She said, her rage turning to sorrow as the rest of the rebellion came to find the cause of the racket.

  

   "You should've known! It's what you do! Oh, Tao, Tao, what have you done?!"    

She was shouting through her tears, and gripping my forearms hard enough to turn her knuckles white.

 

   She let  go of my arms and flung hers around my neck, as her sobbing became uncontrollable.  

  

"You do know what this means," Avryn stated, "don't you?" 

   I  swallowed and wrapped my arms around Kaydra, then said, "It means I have to... 

   fight the Darkness alone...doesn't it?"  

   "It means you'll have to fight Edvard alone." Kaoru added hopelessly.  

   " Don't you have any faith in him??" Ari  scorned as Kaydra attempted to stop   

the waterfalls issuing from her eyeballs.

  

   "I-i-it  m-mean-n-nns th-that-t y-you're-re the L-l-l-light." Kaydra managed to choke out, her shudders  

forced  to quell.   She took a deep breath and they nearly subsided. "If light is put into a room-m, the da-arkness  

"d-d-disappears. I-it 's utterly for-rced into the edges-s and cor-rners."

  

       "But there's so much more darkness than light."  Kaoru added bitterly, "Or haven't you ever seen the night sky?"  

      "That's why light and dark see everything as a battle."  I said, sitting down and pulling Kaydra onto my lap.

 

   "Neither one ever really wins."

  

      There was a silence for a moment, then, out of the blue, Ari and Auria walked over and started poking me.  

  

             "Hey hey, stop it!" I said, flinching away from their hands. "What's the big idea?"  

   "Wow, Tao." Auria said, lifting one of my wings which  I  instinctively pulled away from her, "I dont think I've ever seen 

   you this serious."

    

      No kidding." Kaydra giggled (an improvement over earlier).  "I didnt think he was capable. And so Philosophical..." 

"Well, hopefully there's no more trouble here..." Alex said, grinning,  "At least not anymore." 

   "There should be..." Kaoru and Emmitt grumbled in unison.  That sombered up the room real quick.    

   "What can we do?" Auria whispered,once more playing with my feathers. 

  "What else?" Kaydra said, tracing a rune across my collarbone. 

   "Make me train and pray that I don't die?" I said, half a smile cracking across my face.

  

      "Yeah." Ari smirked.  

   Just then, Hanako walked into the room, taken aback by the sudden sun-like light in the middle of the room.

    

She reached blindly for her sunglasses (always on hand for when Tao decided to pop in) and put them on.  

 

Startled, she took a step back.

 

   "Whoa, Tao?!" she said, "Who drew on you?"

  

  "Oi." Ari said as she slapped her forehead.

                                                                                                                      Ari's perspective.   

 

  

   Not long after Hanako was briefed on the situation and allowed two minutes to freak out, we began working Tao as hard, or harder than possibly sane.

  

"Come on," he said, panting after hours of fighting every person in the entire building using only a wooden staff against all the 

other spells and weapons the other's used, "It's getting dark."

  

       "So?" said Kaydra, the only one who had actually beaten Tao(mostly because she was the only one allowed to use her warrior form, and had hypnotized him)in a match, "You glow as bright as the sun now. Nobody's going to have trouble."

 

   "Now just fight Alex, and you can call it a night." Hope lit his eyes as he nodded to me, then his features turned to a 

mask of determination as he turned to face my boyfriend. "Don't kill anyone." I shouted to the contenders as the fight began.

 

   I  looked away from the fight as the clashing began and turned to Kaydra. Her eyes darted across the field, following 

Tao's light closely, every step of the fight.

  

   "You really love him, don't you?" I asked as she flinched from the sound of Tao being hit.  

   "More than anything in the world. And It's easy to tell you love Alex just as much." she said, half a smile the only  

change in her expression, her eyes never leaving the fight.

  

      I  glanced back to see that Tao had begun to gain the upper hand, making Alex desperate.

  

      "He's good." I said.

  

      "Yeah." She responded proudly as "he" knocked Alex off of his feet although he moved out of the way before Tao could stop him.  

  

       "Do you think he's good enough to stop Edvard?" I asked, hitting the touchy subject.

  

Her features took on sorrow as the dominant emotion and she said,  "I hope so."

  

      Suddenly, she leaned forward against the rim of the practice ring, worry overcoming her expression.

 

The match had stalled for a moment, and it took some time to realize why.

  

      Tao had frozen in his tracks and his eyes were glowing the same color as the runes on his skin with no break in 

the even cyan shimmer.

      He slowly released his staff with one hand and returned it so one end was on the ground. He reached his   

now free hand toward Alex, then paused for a moment, his arm still partly bent. Moving again, he pulled back a bit, 

then straightened his arm and fingers.When he did, something that looked like a 3-dimensional version of Alex's rune -- and one of the runes on Tao's shoulder-- was knocked out of Alex's back. Alex fell to his knees, then to the ground as if he'd been hit very hard in the head with a brick and his eyes fell closed.

  

      He had stopped breathing.

  

      Something was wrong.  

                  

      Very Wrong.

        

      Alex had just died.

               

      And Tao had made it happen.

                            

      No...    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                                                 Tao's Perspective 

    

      When normal vision returned, I saw a terrible scene before me.

 

      Alex was dead where he lay, with the rune I had seen floating above  his limp form.    

  

      "Oh, no." I said as I knelt down to touch him.

 

      I flinched back at the cold touch that met my hand.

  

      I heard two people-- Probably Kaydra and Ari-- jump the fence into the practice ring.

  

      "What have you done?!" Kaydra shouted, pulling a stunned Ari behind her. "I-I-I didn't mean to." I managed to stutter desperately. "It wasn't- I mean I didn't-I mean- I couldn't do that last time! You know I wouldn't kill him! You know I wouldn't... He was -was my- he was my best friend..." I trailed off, 

 

a tear sliding down my face. "What have I done?"

 

   "You--You killed him.." Ari managed to say. I looked up to find her in tears. "He's really dead...Alex, Alex, no..." she knelt beside her love and lifted his head into her lap, gently stroking his hair, tears sweeping down her face. The runes shifted with Alex.

 

       It made me feel like a traitor, watching her helplessly hold him in her arms. It left a heartrending blow.  

   Put it back said a voice in my head.  

  "What?" I said, earning a stare from Kaydra.  

  Put the rune back into your friend.  It responded. If you do, he isn't lost.  

      "But how?" I muttered reaching out to touch the floating rune. As soon as I touched the rune, it disappeared and I felt another presence inside my mind.

  

       "Tao?" Kaydra said in a measured tone, "What did you do this time?"  

   T-tao?

  

      Yeah?  I thought numbly, a bit more broadcasted than usual, Great, 3's company.  

  

        How'd that happen? he said, One second we paused the fight because your eyes were glowing, then.. well... for 

 an instant there, it felt like I was on fire- then I was in your head, looking at some random spot on the wall and hearing Kaydra talk and... Ari sobbed, Interrupting the rambling, and I glanced over at her showing his cold, unmoving corpse lying limply across Ari's lap.  

  

      Oh wow, Tao. he responded after a temporary pause, You actually killed me... if that's what happens to your 

  friends, I'd really hate to see what's left of your enemies...  

    

      I'm seeing if I can fix it. I interrupted bitterly.

 

      Fix. Dead? he asked. Sorry Tay, but I'm gone now. Your toast when Ari gets up.   FRENCH toast. 

     But you're not gone, I thought as I reached out to touch his stone, silent chest. You're right here.  

     As soon as I touched him, I felt Alex's presence leave my mind and he gasped for air, his eyes flying open  

and his heart beginning to race again. Ari gasped in shock, sighed in relief, and gently grasped his icy hands.

  

      As soon as he calmed down, his head still on Ari's lap, he looked at me, grinned and said in a 

pained voice, "Well, I guess I was wrong Tao. Congrats, you fixed dead." And with that, he passed out, his ragged breathing 

the proof that he was indeed still among the living.  

   Ari looked up at me, and with a forced voice, she said, "Did you NOT HEAR when I said DON'T KILL ANYONE?!?!" I shrank back in fear of her words. She looked like she was going to kill me.  Wait, maybe I could fix it if she did that too.

  

      "Wow." Kaydra said, her eyes as big as saucers, as they had been since we had heard Alex's voice in my head.

 

   "Took the words right out of my mouth." said Avryn's voice from behind me. 

 

    I  glanced back to see Avryn and Auria leaning on the practice ring fence from the outside.

  

      "We saw Alex go down from the hall window." Auria said jumping over the fence and walking toward us with a smirk. 

    "Thought we could help with consoling Ari, and getting Alex out of the ring. Turns out we only need to help with one of those."

  

      "Maybe none if he wakes up." Avryn said, following Auria into the ring.

  

      "Even if he does, he probably won't be able to move much for a while." said Emmitt, pushing the gate open with Kaoru hot on his heels.

 

       "Why not?" Ari said, jerking up from staring at Alex's unconscious face.

  

      "You saw the rune, right?" Kaoru said, looking at Alex and Ari. Ari nodded.

  

      "That rune contained everything Alex is." said Emmitt. "His mind, his spirit, his magic, his memories, emotions,  

tactics, habits, abilities, everything except this body. Only the most powerful magic can make the rune show itself- and even then only for an instant as a glow over the person's heart.   I've never heard of it even showing itself fully, much less blasting out of the person." He moved his gaze to my stunned face and said, "the only way you could have done that is the origin of light magic itself. You and your brothers and Alex,(if he would actually use it,) have the strongest magic ever to exist now coursing through your bodies.You have become the sources. This could get ugly. This could get very ugly. "

  

       I sat, frozen for a moment, then I realized something. I grinned up at Emmitt and said, "Think I could do it again?"

  

       "Probably." Kaoru said, grinning back at me as she realized what I had. "You'll need practice."

  

We all looked at Kaydra with the same manic expression. I saw the blood drain from her face.

  

      "Oh, Karp, no." she said.

 

      "Oh yes." Ari said, "Pay back for hypnotizing them to do your chores."

 

   "If you can do it with restraint,"  Emmitt said, helping Ari carry Alex out through the gate,  

"I'll bet you can get the same effect as her hypnosis."

 

   "And," she said, sitting on the ground with her face in her hands, "everyone's against me. Even Alex!"

       
 "He's awake?" I asked her.

 

       "No," came the hoarse, muffled reply from Alex, "I'm dead again."

 

   "Don't start fighting until we bring this one down to the Medic." said Avryn. "I wanna see how it goes."  

  

      Once the others were gone, I sat down next to Kaydra who uncovered her face and hugged her knees to her chest.  

        "Look, Kaydra", I said, sitting down next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder, "I know it isn't very  

nice to help them get back at you this way, but please understand that I'm trying to keep them from finding worse  

ways to pester you. Please tell me there's an upside to this."

  

      "Well,"she said, as if telling a secret to someone for the first time, "You know how people say, 'Curiosity killed the cat?' Well...I think I've always-always wondered what it would--what it would feel like... to...to die..."  I understood why it had sounded like she was telling a secret -- she kind of was.

 

   "Well you know you can always ask Alex..."

 

   "Well, for one thing, I don't think he wants to talk about it." she said, "Secondly, I guess this is that one chance 

to come back and tell the tale."She looked at me, smiled a little, and I said, 

   "Yeah, I guess so."

 

   "Now," I said as she untangled and let her knees down,  "there's only one thing left I need to do before they get back.  

"Tell you why I'm going to fight you... check. Make you feel a bit better..." I leaned forward and kissed her for a long  

moment, then leaned back and asked, "Is that check?"

  

   She grinned at me and said "Yeah, yeah it is."

 

  "Then go get ready to die, little girl." I said, standing up with an attempt at a menacing expression and reaching my hand to her. She took it, and pulled herself up to kiss my cheek, which melted the attempt.  

   "I've been ready since I met you." she said. She sounded like she would have continued, but she didn't .

  

She just shifted to fox form and leapt onto the fence.

 

Now I had to tell her.

 

She'd never fight me with real force otherwise.  

                                                                                                                                                        Alex's Perspective

 

   "Hey, watch it," I groaned as I was dropped for the 7th time,   "I can't move, people. Please have some pity on me."  

     I heard Kaoru laugh, though all I could see was the dirt floor. I couldn't move my head, blinking was a chore, 

breathing, harder still, Speech, near impossible, (though I forced myself to make it sound otherwise.)

 

But then, if I fell asleep, it might all stop. I may not wake up again.

 

       "We're almost there," whispered Ari, helping to pick me up again- at least she was still being kind - this time 

tossing my arm over her shoulder, Avryn taking the other side, "I'll stay, if you'd like."

 

   " 'Kay," I muttered, not attempting to hold my weight, or even think beyond stay awake,   "Tha's nice."

  

   This was a harder way to travel -- I still felt like I'd had a burning building dropped on me -- but at least I ended up 

on the ground a lot less.  

   "You realize you're heavy, right?"  Avryn panted as we neared the medic's current residence- the 

second biggest room in the castle that was our current residence.  

   "Sure." I mumbled, feeling like a deadweight myself.

  

      "Wimp," I heard Ari mutter. That made me smile despite the pain it took for me to do so.  

   "Someone open the door," Avryn said, a touch of fear in his voice. I realized I had my eyes closed then, and was  

too exhausted to open them. Or breathe well.  

   I vaguely heard the doors opening and the medic talking to the others worriedly. I may never know what they said, 

but I know it was about me, and that it probably wasn't good. Did I really look that bad?

 

       I felt myself being moved into one of the cots around the room-I have no idea which one- and heard everyone 

but Ari and the medic leave.   

      Ari said to me as if trying to soothe me, (Though I could still hear hints of panic in her voice,) "Alex, If you can hear 

me, I just wanted to say that I'm going to be here with you all night."

  

      I  just couldn't hold on to consciousness anymore.  

   So I just let go.

 

   The last thing I heard was Ari's voice, obviously panicked, and then my unsteady heartbeat.

 

    Then everything fell into shadows and silence.

 

                                                                                                                                                           Avryn's Perspective

  

       "I hope he's ok." Auria whispered as we walked from the "hospital".

 

   "Me too." I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to my side, 

although that made walking tough.  "You know how Ari's sitting in the "hospital" with Alex? Would you... 

"you know.. do that for me? If I were hurt, maybe... Would you?"

  

   She looked back at me quizzically, then grinned and said, "You have to ask?"

  

      I  looked at the ground and muttered, "It feels better to hear you say it."  

   "Oh, Avryn," she chided," of course I would. You know I would."

 

I felt pretty good when she said that. 

       We walked the rest of the way to the ring in silence. When we got there, we recognized a once common sight.

  

Tao had aggravated  Kaydra, and she attacked.

 

       Viciously.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Kaydra's Perspective

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

   "Okay, okay!" Tao shouted pleadingly as he dodged another of my lunges.

  

"So I hadn't told you yet. I knew you'd freak!" At that point I had shifted and hit him square in the chest, knocking the 

air out of his lungs as if punctuating his remarks.

  

      Oh, I knew about the prophecy,   I thought bitterly, it's the fine print you declined to mention...   I shifted back  

and immediately regretted it because Tao was suddenly eye to eye with me, And his were glowing.

 

   I felt him knock me back, twisting a bit. I never hit the ground. All I saw, felt, or sensed, was gentle mist.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                             Tao's  Perspective 

      If your world had turned black with shades of blue, and suddenly without warning, mist-gray pops out, 

what are you supposed to think?  Oh, it's bland?  

     No. 

   Of course, being me-though I should know better by now--I came up with something along the lines of...  

 

Ooh its pretty! Let's touch it!   

 

   I cowered in fear as Auria screamed at me, "TAO YOU IDIOT! YOU DID IT AGAIN!"    

   Yeah, the brilliant Tao strikes again, this time killing his GIRLFRIEND -- his last victim, his BEST friend.  

All in about a half an hour. "I can see that, Auria." 

   When my vision returned to normal, my first thought after Oh, Crap was I don't think I can get used to this- it's  

bad, it hurts, and I don't like it one bit..    

   Kaydra was on her side on the ground, her eyes -- still partly open -were listless and empty of everything.  

"Everything" floated above her.

 

   It was a strangely shifting gray mass that reminded me of Kaydra in fox form -- even more  so when it  

unfurled and looked at me with baleful, black eyes.      

   This was...new. 

      Holy crap. 

      Yes, tao.  Crap is right.  Let's pretend this never happened. 

      The ethereal fox jumped at me, and dissapeared, leaving me with 3 in my head -- again. 

      There was a moment of radio silence before Kaydra's voice sounded TAO!  I am ASHAMED of you!  No emo's that glow in the dark! It's just NOT RIGHT! 

      Come to think of it, I WAS being momentarily emo. 

      "Crap." 

      Just fix me. Kaydra heaved a mental sigh. 

      I complied. 

      But I suddenly had a bone to pick with Alex. 

(ten minutes later, after Kaydra was placed in the cot next to Alex's) 

      "Alex, I know you're awake." 

      " I know you know." he rasped, his eyes still closed. 

      "Did you know I momentarily hate you?"  

      "Yup." 

      "Do you know why?" 

      "...Not really." 

      "Ever since you were in my head, I can't stop thinking about your girlfriend." 

      "Ah.  I never knew you had such dark thoughts." 

      "...touche.  This had really better be temporary." 

      "You read my mind." 

      I walked over to a chair next to Kaydra's cot and sat down, glancing once at the sleeping Ari. 

      "By the way," Alex opened his eyes and glared at me. "I don't appreciate your mental dillema about Ari and Kaydra.  It's kind of annoying."

 

      I just shrugged and went to sleep. 

                                                                                                                      Lazy Lump o' Llama Lying Limply on the Lawn

   Emmitt and Kaoru had researched things in the library, desperately trying to find a loophole to make it so 

I wasn't the only one fighting against the Dark Ones.

 

   Well, they found it.

 

   Sort of.  

   Apparently, for some reason they found both Alex and Byron's aura had some sort of abnormal strength to them  

  that had not been there before my touching the light orb. Somehow,(don't ask me why,) they had gained some

 

of the light from the orb when I touched it. Emmitt suggested that it was the fact that they were in my bloodline, 

making the light jump from one person to another... gradually intensifying their originated powers and  gaining new ones.

 

   For instance: Byron, being a "green thumb" can morph is now an ENT, (he keeps mumbling to himself about how much 

he had been jipped.)-while Alex the almighty dracomancer can shapeshift into a dragon (either completely or with the most sinister  

weapons of the dragon.(you know, claws, fangs, venom, strength, horns, agility... the list goes on and on.)

    

   Our group are unbelievably quick healers. Alex and Kaydra were only in the "hospital" for a few weeks, Ari and I never once  

leaving their side.  Alex had a nasty shock when he found out that both he and Byron were coming with me to help defeat Eddie.

 

   His eyes pretty much said,   

       "QUICK ,TAO! DO SOMETHING STUPID AGAIN SO I CAN BE BACK IN THE HOSPITAL!!!"  

                                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                                                                 Alex's Perspective

                     

   When I heard that I was going out to help Tao, I had mixed thoughts. One was Oh  Crap..  the Other was What?! 

  and yet another was ANOTHER FIGHT WITH EDDIE?! ANOTHER ONE?!  YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!

 

Tao, Byron and I marched into the practice ring, with nothing but our powers, just to see how well we could do unarmed.  

Ari was once more the referee, saying her usual "Don't kill anyone", this time with a little bite in her eyes directed at Tao.

  

      With our guard up and our eyes wide open, we fought. Emmitt recently told me I could turn into a dragon.  

Sure wish he would've told me that sooner. Would've come in handy in my last fight.   

      Byron did this strange thing where long, rough, spiky branches whipped out of his  hands when he swung them.  

  

      I got so irritated when Tao used his Vampire skills and his energy skills to blind me, all while being whipped  

by branches, I blew up. Sort of literally. 

       I felt a strange transformation occurring. Wings grew out from my shoulder blades,which rather hurt, claws protruded  

from my knuckles (at least where my knuckles were supposed to be), and the next thing I knew I was looking at everything 

in a dragon's eyesight. Which, I note, is completely awesome, and if you could, I recommend trying it sometime.

    

  Tao and Byron shrunk back in fear of my claws, which had come very close to shredding Byron's Ice shards and ripping 

open Tao's chain mail.  

   That, believe me, was one awkward night. I didn't do the same thing as when Tao had dragon's eyesight,    

but I sure had a huge impact on my concussion fields. I literally blew them away.

 

   Tao and Byron stood their ground, waiting for me to come back to my usual height. But I didn't know how to do that.

  

Ari had the unique power to change into a dragon when she wanted to for a while, And I saw from a far corner, her eyes  

rolling, a sigh, and a morph into her own dragon. Her's was freakishly larger than any other dragon.  

She could have picked me up and thrown me across the castle. I secretly hoped she didn't. She showed me how to morph back,  

making me feel like a total idiot, and sighed.

 

      "For once," she said, "I would just like to have a normal training day this month. Just once."  

   She had us gather to the middle again, to restart. "Okay... make sure you know what you are doing before you do it 

this time guys. That includes all of you." She referred to Byrons ice-spikes getting caught up in the fence, Tao's talent for taking

our essences out of ourselves, and my turning into a dragon and not being able to turn back and wrecking the fighting ring.  

She told us not to kill anyone, along with not killing ourselves.

 

                                                                                                                                                                        Ari's Perspective

 

       I was inexpressibly thankful that Alex made it out of the hospital that last time. He had large gashes protruding from all over   his body, He looked pale,(even the slightest bit pale tone on Alex isn't good.) and though he tried to hide it, I could tell he had

trouble breathing. He had passed out as soon as we entered the room, making me wig out once more, for all I could  

hear was his heart barely beating for hours. I thought I was going to go insane over anxiety that week.

   It didn't reassure me too much that the guys' last fight didn't end up as planned, Byron tied himself up to the fence, Tao

nearly going vampyre on me... (I didn't need that on top of everything else, I was most certainly not coming out of this practice round a pyre.) and Alex nearly killing everyone and destroying the practice ring until he had gotten the hang of being an actual

Dragon.

                                                                 

  A   f e w   w e e k s   l a t e r ,

  

       Time was running out. The battle was coming soon.. I dreaded the day when I would have to say goodbye to

Alex-(basically saying goodbye to one half of myself.)

      Kaydra, Megan and I tried to stay strong. We supported them completely, helped train them, and even helped them pack. I grabbed Alex's supplies and hauled them onto his already saddled Dragon. Andromed spoke to me in my mind, trying

to comfort me, make the outlook a little bit more positive. I passed Alex his sword, wished them both luck, stroked 

Charlotte on the neck, and turned to leave.  

      Don't call me coldhearted. It's hard to see the one you love more than everything waltz off to   

battle, especially for me, someone who should be "waltzing off" alongside him. I doubted he would even come back.

I was infuriated at myself for even daring to think such a thing, but... It kept crossing my mind. I whispered goodbye, and

reluctantly turned to leave.

             I hate goodbyes. Especially when it comes to  saying goodbye to Alex and his cousins. I always end up falling

apart. Alex knows me more than I know myself. He heard my footsteps and tenderly, yet quickly caught my hand and

spun me around to face him.

             "Goodbye, Ari." He said, tight-voiced and heartbroken. His eyes seemed to look as if he were remembering

me by heart, as if he was never to see me again.  

   I took a ragged breath. "Goodbye."

      "Ari, even if I die during this.... thing....you're the best thing that's happened in my life." I took a breath, fighting

the thought of him dying, and resisting the urge to slap him for even bringing death up, I sighed.

   "I wish I could go with you." I said.  

   "You know you can't."

   "Do you see me packing?" I forced a grin.

   He and the others were to leave in only a few minutes.  

   We said our last goodbyes. I turned and walked no more than ten steps. Not being able to hold back any longer,

I hugged him and buried my head in his shoulder, tears sweeping my face.

   "Godspeed, love." I managed to reply. He held me in his arms, stroking my hair as he kissed me.

     "I love you." was the last thing he said to me before they flew off. I waved goodbye to them,

alongside Vikki, Kaydra and Megan.The rest of the gang was trying to draw us away from the lake, to take our minds off from

it for a little while.

   It didn't help.

   At least not on my part..

   Suddenly, a bright glow surrounded us and we lost sight of our surroundings.

   With a flash that we never saw, we were gone.

   Byron, Tao, Alex, Megan, Kaydra and I were in the battle chamber for the Light and Dark.

   Well, that's not good.

   "Huh," said Tao, looking at the ceiling, "I guess we're here."

      I made a squeaky noise, as that was the only thing I could do in my state of uncertainty weather I was where I

wanted to be or not.

   Alex turned slowly on me and shouted, "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU YOU COULDN'T COME!!!!"

   "How did you miss...But I -- I just-just," I spluttered," It just-just happened!" all the while making wild gestures

with my hands.

   This brought an reluctant smile across is face. Which, by the way, was gone in less than 3 seconds flat.

   His eyes seemed to say (rather comedically,) "You're not getting out that easy, you're still in trouble."

   "It's not safe for you here." he said darkly.  "Whatever you're doing here, I suggest you get out. fast."

   "NO DOORS!" shouted Kaydra "NOT EVEN A FREAKIN' WINDOW!"

   She was frantically running her hands along the walls in search of some unseen crack, or maybe even a doorknob.

It was to no avail.  The cave was as smooth as it seemed -- glass-like.  She slumped to the floor after slipping on the  

ONE TINY LUMP in the ENTIRE CAVERN-- which happened to be the size of several football stadiums--and hit her

head on the wall.

   She sat up with her hand against the side of her head and made somewhat comical sobbing noises that also

sounded like laughter and said "Ow." as she lapsed into a hysterical fit of giggling and sobbing at the same time

and fell back onto the floor.

   We stared.

   That's all, just stared.

   To be honest, we were glad to be distracted.

   Megan giggled.

   Then I giggled.

   Then Byron laughed.

   Then Alex snorted.

   Then Tao did all of the above.

   We all burst out laughing.  Well, except Kaydra, who was doing exactly the same thing as before, as she attempted to sit

up.  And failed.

  She succeeded the second time, and, still making her new noise, she said "You people are mean! 'Snot funny!"

   We, of course, being as kind as we are, just laughed harder.

  "I thought this was supposed to be serious!" Megan said as she tried to breathe past her laughter." And sinister!"

   The rest of us couldn't stop laughing long enough to reply.

   I'm pretty sure the comment took half an hour to register.

   Then Alex turned to lecture me again, as if it were my fault I popped in instantaneously on my own. We turned

to see someone sobbing.

   Kaydra was somberly curled up against the wall when the rest of us came to our senses.

   And, by the way, she was crying.

   Which doesn't happen often.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Tao's Perspective

 

   Yeah, the room got quiet pretty FAST after that.

   I stood, suddenly having lost the point of the laughter.

   I decided to sit down next to Kaydra.

   I wrapped my arms around her and -- more to comfort me than her -- rocked her back and forth.

She was snuffling into my shoulder, and it was getting soggy.

      "Shsh, it's going to be okay, Kay." I said, with much more confidence than I felt.  "Eddie was on our side to begin with.  He'll come back, I'm sure of it." I lied.

      She looked up at me, with a face that reminded me of a child watching their father off to war. In a choked voice, she said "Tao, you know that's not what I'm worried about.  I never really knew Edvard.  It's his twin brother I'm worried about."

      "Oh, and what are we, chopped liver?" Byron said indignantly.

      Kaydra looked at him for a moment, then, wiping her tears, over a half-hearted smile, said "Yes."

      "Hey!" Ari said, faking anger.  "I'm in 'we' too!"

      See?  We can't keep serious unless given constant reason to be.  Happiness is like friction for us.  It's just THERE, no matter WHAT we do.

      Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash.  A wall of prismatic light formed aroun the small alcove we didn't realize we were in.

      "I have a feeling that means we have to go." said Alex almost gravely.

      "Go?  What do you mean go?  There's a WALL, in case you hadn't noticed."  Ari said, almost relieved.

      "Did you notice Tao's wing?"

      I hadn't. Worse, it's MY wing.  It was halfway through the wall.

      Kaydra put a hand to the wall.  "It's solid." she whispered. "We couldn't help if we wanted to."

      "Well, then," Megan said testily, "WHY THE HECK ARE WE HERE?!?"

      "To witness." Ari said.  "We're supposed to be here to watch the battle.  I would guess there are others on the other side, though they probably don't matter as much to Edvard as...well, as we do to you.  I'm guessing the losing side's observers die and the other side goes free at the end of the battle."

      And the stakes are set.

      Crap. 
 

holykowit'sanewchapter

Alex

       As calmly as possible, we stepped through the shimering barrier.

"Do you think we really have a chance?" Byron asked.  "He'll have as many allies as you, and I'd be willing to bet they're pretty scary."

      "I have to." Tao said.  "If I don't, who will?"

      You know, he had a point.  If he won't believe he can win, nobody can.

      "I just hope that the girls can move on if we dont come out of this." I said stiffly.

      From a regular-seeming wall on the opposite side of the cavern, Edvard -- or, at least, I THINK it was Edvard -- walked out, flanked by ShadowHounds outfitted in full armor.  But, as I said before, I could barely recognize Edvard.  As an outline, he would almost look normal, if he folded in his emormous, black, bat wings and hid his -- erm -- hands.  His skin was dark gray with black designs twisting across it.  His arms were at least shaped normally up until his elbow.  From there they turned to black claw-like weapons that could not be dislodged -- more than a match for the staff forming in Tao's hand.  He had a sadistic grin, showing that his already overdeveloped fangs had grown to frightening proportions.  Not only were his eyes no longer red, they were black and cold as the deepest reaches of emptyness.

      "Hello brothers." He said, all to excited to for the atmosphere of the room.  "I suppose you're still determined to stop me.  Well, I suppose this will end the same as ever -- at least one of you mortally wounded, with me, the little brother, walking away with your blood on my hands.  You've lost before you begun." There was, however, a momentary flicker, that gave basis to our hopes.  Though it was for less than an instant, his eyes flashes red, and looked to beg.  I suppose power even corrupts corruption.

      "If you're going to fight, do." I said, buying time for Byron to work his ice through the floor toward them, knowing Edvards strategy of avoiding the first strike at all costs.  "Or don't you think you're strong enough to beat us?"

      "Ah, yes, dear cousin." He grinned maniacally. "But it's so much more fun to beat you as I always have.  Where's the fun in changing now?  I've always won, but you've always come back.  I'm here to remedy that.  Any more pointless questions -- are we just going to sit here all day?"

      "No," said Byron as his ice silently worked it's way out of the ground behind Edvard. "but I have one thing to say."

      "And what is that, my mentally injured brother." Edvard said, exasperated.

      "You never were very good at noticing things." he said, smirking as he froze the enemy with lightning speed.

      And the battle begun.

                                                                                         Oh where is my hairbrush?

Tao's Perspective

      After Byron made his move, I made mine.  I found it easier to get off the ground in the cavern, which is probably why the wings are actually there.  They happen to be very hard to use most of the time.  Probably why they work in here easier.  Just as a note to self, Grimloch will never be under-respected again.

      I brought my staff toward Edvard, but he tore Byron's vicegrip apart and flew up to meet me before I could make use of it.

I did, however, manage to block his claws on my staff before he could attempt to kill me.  Somehow, his force was stronger than mine, pushing me back, almost to the ceiling -- nearly 200 feet -- before stopping.  He flipped above me and kicked off the staff, pushing me groundward.  I managed to catch myelf, and shot back toward him.  I was much more agile on my own in the air, mostly because of the feathers, but partly because I was obviously trying harder.  He carelessly glided around the cave, laughing cockily once in a while as I followed him.  He began to taunt me: "That girl of yours, Kaydra was it?  She'll be fun to take down after you.  They all will.  So powerless after you -- and all your power comes from elsewhere!  Ha!"

      It was a bad plan on his part.  You see, he slowed down.  I, too, am an opportunist.  Before he knew what hit him, I crashed him to the ground.  A crater of shattered rock formed, but we both stood, unscathed.

      I lept from the pit, subconciously noting that Alex and Byron had defeated the Hounds and were now floating in orbs of light.  They were NOT happy.  The defeated hounds were lying limp on the ground -- one with Alex's cape over it's head, the other strangled by wood.

      Edvard followed me out, folding his wings.  We circled like wary animals.

      "That was a bit cheap for you, Ciao." Edvard said, smirking at his indestructability.

      "Oh, real imaginative Edlard."  I retorted, leaping across the circle at him.  That was about when I noticed what the staff did.  Any time it touched Edvard, his body would fade from darkness to seemingly normal for a moment.  Kaydra's words about Darkness being dispelled by light suddenly had meaning.  Using my staff to hold off his claws, I pressed a hand to Edvard's chest.

He shouted as if burned, and lept back.  Startled, he glanced down at his chest.  There was a large piece of it that looked normal again, and evidently hurt.  Again, his eyes flashed red, before they became black and hate-filled once more.  Abandoning his usual calm, he lunged, throwing all his force against me.

      "Well, well." he snarled through his teeth, his hands closed around my staff in a battle of brute strength.  "Looks like my famous twin brother really does have a few tricks up his sleeve.  What's next?  A card trick?"

      "No, this." I said, grabbing  both of his hands.  Black lines darted across my skin as he pulled away with as much force he had been pressing down moments before.  I let go and he took off.  He was across the cavern in an instant  Watching me warily with ever-changing eyes and nursing his hands.

      I made my way slowly across the room, the lines on my arms begining to look like black scars -- in fact, they reminded me of the scorch marks I left on everything.  Like the confrence room door.  Karma, karma karma...

      Edvard's hands were already gray again, turning black, scale by scale.  His chest had a dark star where it had been changed by my light.  He had over-compensated by making himself darker than he had been before I touched him.

      Tao, can you still hear me? Alex's voice echoed Good, I can tell you can.  Everyone in the protected areas gets information that those fighting don't.  Tao, you can't keep doing that.  You need a way to stop him before you run out of gray area.  If he turns all black, he's invincible, Tao.  Nothing can hurt him then.  Find a way to turn him all at the same time!  Hurry!

      What the carp, this is like some sort of video game!

      But I had no time to be thinking like that.  Edvard had recovered, and he wanted this done and over with.

      To buy time, I launched into the air, as if daring him to follow.  He never was one to refuse a challenge.

      The longer I'm touching him, the more darkness dissappears. I thought, swinging a wide arc around the cavern with Edvard in pursuit.  But I can't just hang on, he's too strong.  I need something that will stick, something that stays on him...

      And all I have that even sort of works?  Blood.

      It's risky.  It's insane.  It's almost guaranteed to kill me.  But I'm the only one who can do it.

      I'm so sorry Kaydra.

      No, no Tao!  There has to be another way! Alex shouted silently, physically pounding the wall of his prison.  Tao, no!

      But there was no other way this time.  Stoicly, I turned to face my chosen death.

      Edvard would have thought it suspicious at any other time, but he was too frusterated to care.

      I felt his claws rake down my chest, unhindered -- the blinding pain -- then I recognized I was falling...then nothing.

      And my last thought was of the hope that this insane plan worked.

      And this has been Alex, writing what I saw through a hero's eyes.

                                                                                                                                                                       Wow, depressing...

Kaydra's Perspective

            There was a blinding flash of light as I subconciously realized what had happened.  It simply couldn't be.  He woudn't do something like that.  He couldn't!  It had to be a trick, simply a trick to confuse us.

      As the flash faded, I saw rubble spread across the battlefield. Everything was broken,and the ceiling looked like the inside of a hive -- all holes and tiny walls that surrounded them. Even the wall of light had fallen. Numbly, I made my way across the debris toward the epicenter. Conciously, I didn't know why, but subconciously, I knew I was going to mourn.  When I saw the truth in the center of the room, there was a frozen moment of denial, where I refused to cry.  But it ended as quickly as it came, and I silently stumbled to the center of the crater.  I stood, tears running down my face for a long moment beside a normal Edvard, who was doing the same as me, his tears running streaks through Tao's blood.

      "I can't blame you."  I said tightly.  "It may have looked like it was you, but I can't blame you for it." I sunk to my knees, staring, unfocused at the wall.  "It may have been different to me, but you're here crying too."

      "Strange." he rasped, staring at his hands. "I can."

      I fell, crying into the gashes across Tao's chest.

      "You were right." I said.  " He did come back.  But you didn't.  Tao, why?" emotion overwhelmed me,and I broke into sobbing.

      Again subconciously, I knew Alex and Byron had come back down to the ground and were beside me.  Alex gasped, still feeling twinges of the pain Tao had.  Ari and Megan were running toward us.  I clenched my fist in Tao's feathers, sticky with his still-warm blood. 

      I was done.

      Darkness.... overwhelm the earth. See if I care.

      My light has gone out.

                                                                                                                                                                                             T_T

Ari's Perspective

      Tao's limp body was lying on the ground with Kaydra's face buried in his blood. Alex stood, shuddering, watching for the slightest sign that he might still be alive. His eyes reached out at the soul less corpse, pain overwhelming his features. "Why Tao?"

      Byron was torn up just as bad as Alex, but Tao's wounds were deeper than both put together. I felt tears sweep from my face for my dead, semi-halfway-brother.  Byron kept repeating the same words over and over again, calling out for his brother..

Edvard kept his head down, tears dripping off of his face, blood combining with the tears as they fell. Tao's Blood.

      I hesitantly brought my fingers toward the nape of his neck, still denying the truth. His heart no longer beat. Although, I could quite literally see that. A tear welled up in my eyes. "T-tao's gone." I choked out. "there's nothing left for you to do. He's gone..."

      Kaydra didn't reply, but sobbed erratically into his shredded, bloody chest. We sat there for a while, not knowing what to say.

Suddenly Tao's body faded and very quickly disappeared.

      "No.." Kaydra sobbed, the pain in her words striking me harder than ever. Alex slammed his fist against the cavern wall, resulting in a long, loud echo, and shaking more dirt and rubble from the ceilings.

      "It wasn't enough that they let him die, was it?!" Alex choked, his voice cracking, "No! They had to take what was left of him away from us too! I swear on EVERYONE'S FREAKING GRAVE that I will make them pay for this.  Whoever they are, and wherever they are, they will pay." Alex cried out.

I came toward him and held him as he cried angry tears onto my quickly sopped up shoulder.

      Ed groaned. "What have I done?!" he stuttered. He looked at the ground, wringing his bloodstained hands. I looked at him, seeing sweet, silent Eddie, the one who killed Tao. My mind kept insisting that it was he who did it... but my subconscious told me otherwise.

      "We know it wasn't your fault. We will get them for this. We will avenge them for all the pain and misery they've given us."

I tried to sound positive. It wasn't working considering I was crying my eyes out, too.

      Byron's eyes were fiery from anger. "They had no right to do this to him! I finally gain one brother, and forever lose another one."

      "We don't even know how to get out of here." Megan finally said after what must have been hours of silence.

      "I do." came the familiar echo from behind us.

      I looked at Alex.  He looked right over my shoulder.  It was like he was seeing a ghost...

      So I turned to look.

      He was.

      As impossible as up being down, there stood Tao against a slab of broken stone from the original crater.  He seemed cocky and sad at the same time.  And he was still glowing, though now in all his translucent glory.

      There was another beside him.

      She looked suspiciously like Kaydra.

      She held a white, bat shaped amulet that seemed to radiate power.  She seemed as if she were Kaydra, stuck halfway to her warrior form.  "I've brought him back." she said, grinning.

      Shakily, Kaydra -- her face and shoulders soaked in Tao's Blood -- stepped toward them.  Her tears now left streaks through the red.

      The other Kaydra stepped in front of Tao and placed the amulet around the now solid-looking Tao.

      "That should keep him alive until he can heal on his own." she said, sounding a bit like Kaoru.

      The claw marks on Tao's chest were still right where they had been, and just as deep, but the bleeding had stopped, oddly enough.

      Yet it was still a miracle he was standing.

      "Now Tao," she said, looking him in the eye.  "as soon as you touch her, the pain comes back." ah, that makes sense...well, kind of.  "Are you sure you're okay with this?

                                                                                                            

Tao's Perspective

      I nodded, all of my earlier smugness at seeing the others reaction replaced by the memory of the pain.

      Slowly fading, the Mirror Guard stepped back up next to me and grabbed my wrist.

      "I hope you don't mind if I can't help but be a bit dramatic,"  she said, "but I can't resist being symbolic."

      I looked at Kaydra, her face coated in my blood around the tear streaks and the occasional bare patch of skin.  She looked so hurt, I could have cried right then.  But I couldn't do that to her.

      She was always one to pick up on things quick.

      She strode over to us, looking business-like, but I knew better.

      When she reached us, she looked me directly in the eyes with the most powerful emotion I'd ever seen anywhere -- love.  I was so stunned by the depth of it, I was almost startled when she looked at the Mirror Guard, an overpowering gratitude in her eyes with barely a blink.

      The Mirror Guard lifted my hand in front of me, toward Kaydra.

      She reached toward it, but paused halfway, as if unsure.

      I looked back and smiled softly, just as unsure, but determined.

      Just as the Mirror Guard faded away, Kaydra grabbed my hand tightly.  The pain came with it and I sunk to my knees, seeing stars.

      A numbing sensation (I can only assume it was the amulet's doing) came over me as Kaydra lowered me to the floor.

      But that's not all she did.

      I tell you now, she scared  the heck outta me.

      Still clasping my hand in a white-knuckle-death grip she knelt in front of me

and....kissed me like it was the last thing she would ever do.

      Now, ya see, this shouldn't have surprised me. But, as I said, She scared me half to death. again.

      Bad joke, Bad joke, shutting up now.

      After a few seconds of that, we heard a loud THUNK. We broke apart to see Eddie had just passed out.

            We looked at each other and laughed. (Ouch....)

Reviews

[Ari and Sylph]

I think we should fix how narrow the lines are.