Trygon struck his shield twice, each hit renting the cavern with a threatening echo. I slapped my tail to the wall in return, wrinkling my lips in a snarl. Had he been born of animal tendencies, he would've done the same, sizing me up just as I did. A worthy fight, from a dragon's eyes, if our instincts put us to the test. But I knew better than most; humans only sought pleasure in their battles.

"Come on..." He sneered, striking his shield again. "Come on, lizard, show me the fire in you."

My nostrils twitched angrily. There were no instincts left in their scaleless hides, no damned sense of fear or power. And the smile crossing the knight's face proved it.

He dove forward with a roar; my claws lashed forward, too slow to strike a blow to his rolling frame. Trygon's reactions were quick, his hands instantly fastened around his lost sword, and the first stab attempt was merely too close to my chest. I quickly reeled away from the wallside and folded my wings in, keeping myself as far away as possible from his sword. He stabbed into thin air again, skimming the outskirts of my hip, and I simply replied with a painful backlash of my tail that ruptured his chest. He let out a gasp, flopping violently onto his back and groaned, grasping his plate in thanks as he brought himself to his feet. I flickered my tail apologetically, wincing at the sudden bruise of his armor upon my flesh. But I didn't want to kill Trygon, that was of last resort. I merely wanted to scare him, to prove the prophecy wrong. I just didn't know how.

"I urge you to stand down, knight!"

"So you can murder my kingdom?!" Trygon retorted, pushing off a rock and slashing his sword toward me. I coiled my armored wings just in time, winning us both a metallic spark in the dark. I grimaced and swung my claw, watching him duck low and slice; another spark. My throat convulsed in surprise, realizing he struck a blow to my neck, one that, had my armor not been there, would have killed me. I slammed my other claws down in another near-miss, snarling in resentment.

Damn it! Trygon slid forward and hopped over another miss of my tail, then leaped eastward in a frantic escape from my harsh attacks. Somehow he made it up my spine, sliding forward upon his knees to my neck and slashed his sword perfectly across my cheek. I gasped, feeling the blade draw a large so deep and warm that it immediately burst of purple blood. Agh! My eyes flashed coldly from the sharp sting; even his face seemed to match the reward as he rolled ahead of me, grinning from ear to ear.

"You should-"

"Shut up!" By the time he stood up, my tail had struck him again. Only this time, his shield was the one flying off his body, not him.

He stared, dumbfounded at his loss for a moment, and grunted, redirecting the sword toward my heart. I slammed my claws into the earth, rendering a warning quake, and hissed. Trygon scoffed.

"You're holding back."

"I'm trying to save your stupid skin!" I growled. "All I want is to go home; I don't want your blood, or anyone else's, on my talons!"

The knight wiped the dragon blood against his sleeve, eying me like a wolf to a shepard. "The oracle says otherwise."

"They are but words spoken upon a lie," I scowled, sizing him up. "Heed my words for once... I beg of you. Killing you is not the answer."

"But it is mine!" He swung again, sending sparks from a hit upon my neck. I doubled back in surprise, then snapped my jaws forward -- a poor choice on my end. With ease, he hobbled off a rock, lifted his sword up high, and plowed the wretched weapon into my shoulder. Every piece of confidence I once had drained away in mere seconds once the sword impaled the muscle. I roared to the stars as blood erupted from the spot and doubled over in agony, curling my claws into the earth as the floor was coated in the color of my flesh. I felt him withdraw and went to snap at his feet, but he was too out of reach. I only found another taste of his sword as it stabbed into my cheek, nearly cutting my tongue out in the process. I rammed my body into the wall, trying to disarm him; his grip only tightened, followed by a third stab deep into my other shoulder.

For Kantar's sake! Snarling, I watched Trygon celebrate with a cynical laugh, raising the sword up, aiming right for my face.

My eyes dilated, those enraged pupils shrinking the size of strings. I whipped my head down to the ground, violently tossing Trygon, and every part of his being to the earth, where he struck with a hard thud. He tried to flee; my claws quickly lunged down, slamming the poor human into the earth, helmet cracking into a rock face like an egg. A groan was all he could muster as he weakly made a move for his sword, his eyes a daze, vision a blur. But his mind didn't dare let go of his desire to hurt me; he lifting the weapon up and impaled my right claw.

I lost control at that moment. Whether through the adrenaline of the right, or the anger of my wounds, it didn't matter. I tightened my injured claw into the poor knight's body, crumpling the metal like foil paper, lifted upward, and threw him away like a rag doll. I watched him flip head-over-heels, his sword toppling with him, before crashing hard into the nearby wall with a heavy crunch, followed by a pained yelp.

Damn you, pest, I hissed in annoyance, limping after his body, jaws salivating with the need to finish my task. Scare him, said the voice in my brain, it'll send the message into his thick skull faster. So I approached like a snake, slithering over the ruins and skeletons along the path, toward my fallen knight. I longed to sneer at his insolence, to tower over his being and showcase the true might of a dragon.

Instead, I was greeted with horror. Pure, guttural horror.

The sagging knight was standing, his body slumped forward as if held by the tip of his spine. But it wasn't his face that made my heart sink. His hands slowly raised, gripping around a pointed spire poking out of his chest, and oozing a dark red liquid. I could smell the shock falling over his horrified face, just as it did mine.

Trygon landed on it. He landed on a spike... because of me.

Groaning, he pulled himself off the spike, eyes growing dimmer by the minute. Somehow his hands found the sword on the ground, which he leisurely grabbed as he met my eyes.

"You..." The knight staggered another two steps, slumping to his knees with a gasp, then doubled over, spraying blood across the cavern. He looked at me, his lips quivering as if trying to say something, then choked on a soft, indescribable whimper. The man fell over, his metal echoing the cavern with a shallow, empty thud.

Then there was silence.

I stared for a long time. Minutes, even, seeing what I did was just an illusion for the impossible. But, nay; my claws went to nudge the knight back to his knees; he toppled over a second time. Lifeless. Wordless. Gone. This was no illusion.

I killed him.

"N-No, I..." I shook my head, doubling backwards. "I-I didn't mean to-!"

"Trygon!" The sound of an approaching wizard made my stomach lurch. I stumbled away as the wizard came into view, his staff at the ready to attack, while his eyes searched for the knight. He fell upon his partner's corpse before he ever saw me, jaws falling agape once he noticed the massive hole upon the knight's torso. I could see his eyes suddenly darkened, the white beard beneath his chin rattling through waves of tremors that I could only describe as sickening. I took a step back; he recognized that, lips wrinkling upward to share a view of his jagged canines.

"I s-swear..." I shook my head as he began to rise. "I didn't mean to..."

"Did you, now?" snarled the wizard, tightening his grip upon his staff, which seemed to balloon with power. I whimpered, shakily backing up at the growing light. He could kill me, I knew that was certain. Sorcery would be the death of me. And there was no escaping untamed, and untempted magic.

"I was bound to spare you," he hissed, his eyes a fixed glare that sent shivers down my spine. "Cerrabethia... would have shown you m-mercy... welcomed you in like the noblemen that we are. They would have g-given you a purpose, a dragon of the king and queen. And you... you..."

I whimpered. "I didn't ask for this."

"The prophecy was right."

"No, no... It's not. It can't be!"

The wizard raised his staff, shoving all the skeletons and debris away, only leaving me in his path. I felt tears brimming my eyes and whimpered. "Please..."

"Don't... beg to me, drake," the wizard growled, slowly pointing his staff at me. "You've already crossed the line. SEPTO-!"

"No!" I dove to the ground just as a blast of energy shot into the air. I cried out, lunging behind a stalactite as another explosion rocked the cavern, knocking me off my claws. My mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and panic, wings flapping erratically as I struggled to find my footing. Another shot. I felt searing hot pain on my flank without warning, then a punch to throw me into the wall, hard. A sizzle was all I heard from my flank when I came to, and I cried out at the sudden sharp burns of my scales. The wizard took another step forward, his eyes ablaze with a fury like no other, waving his staff in a circle. Breaking through my haze, I limped to my claws and tried to run.

"SEPTO-MAGNITUS-ORA!" He slammed his staff to the ground. I heard nothing for a moment... until the ground began to shake. As soon as I whirled around, a massive eruption of bones, rock, and flame lunged out at me, too fast for me to escape from. I felt it roll over me like the wave of an ocean before it crested and fell, burying me in hot earth, rot, and bone. I saw nothing but darkness as I was thrown about, wings and tail flailing every which way before the weight of the world crushed into my ribcage with a bone-shattering crunch. After another shark jolt, I felt my body give into the tremors and slump to the floor, rocked about in the churning madness before it stopped, and settled. Hurt... I was too hurt.

"Storm dragon..." I heard his booming voice shake the ground, demanding, and powerful. Then, a tug; my body began to withdraw from the rubble and into the clearing, the pull being from my tail. I gasped when I noticed his terrifying image appear, and threw my claws out to hold back; he whipped his staff to him, enough to make me wince and retract my claws.

"N-No..." I whimpered, trying to break free, but I couldn't fight his spell. I whined loudly, thrashing upon the ground as I was brought to him. But it was no use.

"You don't deserve to wear this," he snarled, slamming his staff on the ground again. One second was all it took for him to rid the world of the last piece of my damnation; the armor of my kingdom was immediately ripped right off my body, and crushed into oblivion.

"NO!" I shrieked, thrashing harder. "You- AGH!" the invisible force around me tightened, squeezing my bones into each other until my roars became squeals of utter anguish.

"The queen will understand when I bring you back in pieces," he hissed, tears leaking down his face. "For the unjustified murder of a valorous knight. So I will make sure this hurts, dragon."

I couldn't move. Whining, I lashed my tail into the ground to try and escape his grasp, my eyes helplessly watching the sorcerer slowly approach me, staff in hand. He sided me, glaring down at my tears as if displeased.

"P-Please..." I cried, shaking my head. "I-I didn't... m-mean it..."

His staff raised back, the fiery blunt end pointing down at my skull. It was going to hurt. This death... it was bound to be worse than the sting of a Scorn. And, Nayre, along with any other dragon, wasn't here to comfort me. Nobody was.

"Don't..."

The wizard reared back, let out a roar, and swung down.

WHOOSH-

BOOM!

The ground cratered next to me. I gasped in shock, watching the wizard suddenly double backward to the ground to an invisible force, a shrill shriek echoing the darkness. I turned my head weakly, noticing his flailing body, and the faint outline of a pair of wings rattling above him. He thrashed and squirmed, trying to fight off the beast and reach for his... his staff was gone. It was next to me.

"AGH! Mmph-!"

CRUNCH!

The wizard's voice cut off suddenly, his failing going quiet. A thud followed, the void was only filled with labored breaths. I whimpered, blinking into the darkness, trying to search it for a source of the attack. It took a few minutes of panting and groaning before the figure finally revealed himself. And my eyes began to water at the sight of it.

"I knew there was someone wrong... when you took three whole hours... to just grab a medicine kit." Vulkar snorted, stumbling toward me. "Because there is no way you are that dumb not to find the medicine room." He slumped upon my belly, panting quietly, and licking his chops of a mouthful of blood. I stared at him, just for a few seconds, then broke down into tears.

"T-Thank you..." I sobbed. "Thank you."

Vulkar patted my scales and sighed.

"He hurt you, didn't he?"

I nodded shakily. Vulkar groaned, stumbling upon my belly and gazed over at my chest, his face growing white all over.

"By the stars... he broke your ribs?! Why would he-" he turned to the corpse and snarled. "I should urinate on his corpse."

I forced out a gasp and squeezed my eyes shut. "He... wasn't in the wrong. I hurt... his friend. On accident."

Vulkar tilted his head; it took him a minute to recognize a second body in the rubble, slumped over to one side in a puddle of red. The vampire king grunted.

"A knight and a wizard is not a good combination. Lethal, even. You shouldn't have survived this. Wouldn't have... had I not been there."

"And I t-thank you... for that, Vulkar. Really..." I blinked back my tears. "You keep saving me. And I haven't returned the favor. In some way, I have to."

"Well," Vulkar sighed, moving toward me so I could see him in the light. "I fear that time may be soon."

I frowned, scanning him up and down as he approached me. I looked twice, even, unsure what I was looking at... until I noticed something odd about his skin. Thin black tendrils coasted up his body from his heart, rolling up his wings and even crawling up the base of his throat. Even his eyes, once bloodshot, had darkened into a black-ish color similar to the ink of a squid. The vampire groaned quietly, shaking his head once his ears picked up my subtle gasp.

"The witch's plague," he whispered softly. "It's spreading."

"Vulkar-" I reached out to him, but he quickly stumbled away.

"No, no, no, don't-" Vulkar raised his wing out, blocking my claw from him. "It is best that you don't touch me. This spreads easily, I'm afraid."

"H-How many?" I shook my head. "I-It's only been three hours. Right?"

Vulkar whimpered, turning away from me. He forced a shallow breath, and answered me coldly. "It's everyone."

---------

Felix had watched his master die from the gap in the ceiling above. He pressed his own staff into himself, softly weeping into the darkness of Az'hark before fleeing down the mountain. The image of his master's chewed out throat terrified him, and Trygon's dead body was hard enough to remove. His tears rolled down the mountain with him as he ran, over rocks and sharp jagged spikes, over fallen longs and small avalanches, before plowing into the forests of Jorryn. His feet pounded into the earth, reddened eyes wild as he sought refuge on the path that his master had taken him. But something made him stop. Something beyond this veil of foliage and nature seemed to beckon for him. And, once he stopped, it found him.

He trembled softly, raising his staff into the brightly lit forward, blinking back his tears as he rounded his position in a circle. He turned right, then left, leveling his breathing to make sure of himself. And then he righted back forward toward a shape standing just a foot from his stance, and froze. The old lady before him smiled.

"Hello child," Agnes grinned.