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Chapter 14 -A Fiery Interlude-

A boy....ripped of his own life as he knew it.....

A soul....with no wish other than strike vengeance at those who caused him pain....

A heart......Beating for vengeance......

A brave man.....Blinded with pride and mind clouded with bloodlust....

A Loving Defender........Vowing to defend that which he thought was the bane of his existance.....

The Legend of the Dawn Dragon continues on throughout our many books.......

These are merely some of the words that describe James' journey....from the heart of evil.....to a life of pure happiness...and purpose.....This is simply another tale of his quest...and life...... Long live Brightscale......Bringer of the Dawn.....

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James awoke the next morning...feeling not even the slightest feeling of grogginess.....his eyes opening widely to gaze around the cave. To his surprise, however, it was empty, and there were no signs or traces of the two lovely dragonessess that had so willingly given him their affection the night before. He quickly noticed, however....that the skies outside were quite peculiar....the clouds looked as if threatening rain.... and there were flashes of lightning in the distance..... A storm was coming.... As he began to shake off that feeling of waking up...he suddenly realized something.....causing him almost to jump.

"I...I can see!!" James shouted, but as he felt at his eyes....he felt a blindfold covering them..........maybe it was a dream.....maybe not.....

He stumbled around in clumsiness, noticing that in fact...his body had after all healed itself, maybe having.....such acts with Aura brought out some sort of healing in him.....or maybe it was just a small gift of affection she placed upon him...Either way, he would thank her as soon as he found her....then he spotted it, a small, white letter, scrawled in a crystalline ink that seemed like frost, but it was not cold.....and it was blue....It was a strange sight, but he began to read it anyways, taking the delicately folded paper in his hand and reading it aloud:

~~~~~~~

~My Friend......

It has been too long........ I...didnt get the chance to explain everything to you, nor have I gotten the chance...I hope you find this letter by the time that you wake up. You may be saying to yourself....that you saw me die...in front of your very eyes that one fateful day......I almost did....but....if it were not for my companion I would be gone. He is a clanless golden dragon, quite a rare encounter if I do say so myself. This gold dragon explained that he is the very last of his kind....and wishes nothing more than to help me find you...and well...apparently he has! I have been following you for quite some time now, as he promised to aid me in, but every time we were able to find you...we were unable to act due to the circumstances at hand.....I merely hope that.....with your new dragon love...that you wont forget about me....*the next few areas were dotted with teardrop stains in the ink* I.....dont know what I could do without you.....Even if you love her more than me, I understand...I just guess it wasn't meant to be...But I will follow you to my dying breath my dear...... I wish to be more than a mere friend, but a powerful ally to help you both....As for right now...we are taking Roland to a town to be helped, our herbs and healing have been unsuccessful in healing him...that blast really did a number on not only his face, but it also managed to injure not only his flesh, but his organs, it almost cooked several of them..... He is getting worse and worse....He keeps complaining that the burning never stops now....and we are getting worried..... Maybe Raiken had more up his sleeve than we think? I do not know...but I must admit, Alex was VERY.....VERY reluctant to leave you alone again, but I promised her that you would be safe, enchanting the cave with a barrier that you cannot cross until we return for your own protection. No one may enter this ward without my permission either, for they know not the word to destroy it. It would be wise to meditate and store your energy now....Of course by now you have also realized that you can see or you would not be able to read this letter. What you are now using to see is not your eyes, but your third eye.....no....dont check your head there isnt actually a third eye.... Its a "minds eye" that allows you to see further, clearer, and even in darkness....and you are able to see ghosts and demons that we cannot otherwise see! What a gift......Aura really helped you uncover some unnatural gift that apparently no one has ever had except a benevolent white dragon named Aegis....if you know anything about him I would love to hear some of this dragon lore. It is also my to my understanding that this black dragon we seek is far more dangerous...he seems angered greatly by something....something that occurred at a lake not too far from here. Either way...... take care of yourself my dear.... We all wish this of you....and I personally have taken the necessary precautions to ensure that you do. Your eyes may...never be the same however.....I'm sorry......There will be a day when we triumph....know this....and I will help you slay that dragon......one last mission for us dragon slayers I guess.....but........for the good of the world...not just ourselves..... Rigald has taken a slight interest in you as well...he senses something about your soul...but he will not tell me anything of it.....If it were not for him picking me up out of the sky that day....I wouldnt be here..... Without you...I would die anyways...know this....

~Sarah

~~~~~~~

As he read that letter, he couldnt help but feel his heart sink a little bit in his chest and chills run through him.....she still loved him....even though he loved Alex now.... At least she understood...but it felt so wrong....so evil...to have turned his back on her so quickly....Sarah.....

His eyes began to water behind that blindfold, creating several little damp spots in it which would be clearly visible to anyone who had the chance to gaze upon the cloth. He had no idea what it was made of.....but he felt it necessary to keep there...to hide his weakness.....his guilt.....his failure.....

He once again folded the letter in his hands and laid it down gently where he had been laying..... It was at that time that he realized that his body had been cleaned free of evidence of the night's escapades with the two dragonesses as well..... another thought that made him chuckle slightly... For being a strong, badass earth dragon, she was also quite naughty....

James slowly made his way to the entrance to the cave, gazing out at the dark...jet black clouds.... What had happened...? Why was the sky dark as midnight...?

At that moment he heard a vicious clash of blood red thunder in the menacing dark clouds, illuminating the skies with a blood red glow, a vortex beginning to appear as well....leaves and debris on the grass beginning to stir as the winds picked up....slowly but surely turning into gale-force winds, durt clouding the vision and picking up into a violent sandstorm as the ominous cloud hovered over the landscape....what was this?

None of that mattered however as the clouds suddenly burst into flames, remaining stationary as suddenly a black dragon burst from the bottom of the clouds.....Talon....

James quickly found his sword and rushed to fight that damned dragon....but soon felt the barrier pulling him back like some kind of stretchy wall, preventing him from leaving his enclave. The dragon just waited there....hovering while he flapped his wings...Gazing at the landscape as if looking for something....then with a loud, ferocious roar, he let a jet of crimson red flame burst from his maw, setting the entire, beautiful landscape into a land of death and ashes, burning everything and anyone in sight, including the small wild animals that were unlucky to be in the area at the time...... thats when it happened......

As if out of nowhere, at least ten airships with the dragonslayer insignia came to the rescue of the land firing their cannons at the huge, menacing dragon. Though their weaponry did nothing to him, he roared out in anger and swiped wildly downward with a clawed paw, cleaving one in two before quickly following up with an uppercut, hewing another.

James admired their courage....but not their purpose.....this was an unwinnable battle and he knew it.....this was nothing mere than a source of entertainment for the towering dragon....He had seemingly grown from his last encounter with him....the dragon now roughly twice the size of the airships he was cleaving.

"Those damned fools..." James said through gritted teeth..."They'll never learn...."

And in that moment, suddenly a large blast of black flame hit the dragon where it hurt, causing it to howl loudly in pain, black blood spraying from the impact. Then he saw a figure jump through the air, clad in dark armor and a really, really long blade....Raiken....but how.....?

Raiken successfully was able to stab the dragon in the neck, but immediately afterwards, he was gripped in an unescapable hold before being launched back at the airship once again without his blade. Furious, the dragon retrieved the blade from its neck and threw it back, destroying the airship that he had landed on, sending the crippled ship and all of its passengers plummeting to the ground.

"Woah!" James shouted, grinning at the show. "Yeah....two of my greatest enemies duking it out in front of me...while all I need to do is stand and enjoy the show..."

The black dragon slashed, blew jets of flame, and slammed his tail down onto the ships one by one until there was only one left, gazing at it furiously...but the airship had other plans.....releasing a rather large blast of flame from an oversized cannon on the front of the ship, causing the black menace to stagger a bit in pain, the blast having had seemingly weakened him.

Angered, he opened his wings to full wingspan and let loose a wave of black flames, destroying everything within a five mile radius.....including some of the airships and most of the innocent wildlife beyond......

Frightened......James crouched down, expecting the worse...but then realized that the barrier had blocked everything, the flames licking over the barrier and the mountainside, leaving him unharmed.

As he looked back....the dragon was gone...the sight of its tail retreating back into the black clouds was a relieving sight...but not the barren...ashen wastelands that were left....the rubble of the airships still flaming...the skies filled with clouds of ashes......it was a disaster....... the dragonslayers had never released such power before...to only have it crushed in mere seconds... It was like a game to him! What chance did he have......he had the best chance in the world...he had his friends....

In that moment however...he felt a powerful sense of worry, not from himself, but from Alex...who he felt was beginning to panic. She had seen the blast....and so had everyone else.....He could feel her debating whether to return or not...then....without a word...she did....... he felt her leaving the presence of the others.....breaking through the roof of an inn.....

He simply laid there on his knees, gaping at the atrocity that had just been committed.....and felt his heart shuddering a bit in fright.....he had just witnessed the true power...if that was even true power....of the dragon....he would only have to do better.....he began to feel that courage building up in his heart once again.....that strong will to fight.....the will to reunite the dragon clans at the temple....and to bring a stop to the chaos at hand.... He would not stop..not now...not ever....

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