A rumble rose up in Zemi’s throat, his eyes locked on the Sygnus.

“Kudako…” Zemi’s voice cracked as he spoke the name.

“Zem,” AsaHi took his arm in a comforting motion. “He’ll be alright. I’m sure.”

“No… He isn’t alright,” the Dreigiau turned his gaze downward, face pale and strained. Words didn’t have to speak the feelings that were emanated.

SoYa didn’t have to hear it. He knew. The Dragon Warrior had fallen and would not be returning to them. And despite the power of the great Watcher from the Time Before, he had doubts that even Aur could hold up against the darkness and death of the wild-minded Sygnus.

So many. We’ve lost so many… is there really nothing left for us to do but run?

“Lord Dragon! Please hold your concentration. You too, Lady Wolf!” NaDo’s voice cut through the moment of mourning.

-Excuse you! My name is Lady Zazo. Get it right, Earthian!-

It was enough to draw the Arweinydds’ attention back upon the task at hand. Everything that had been said about the Vision Stone was true. It rose up before them, a pillar of brilliant blue light that shown straight up into the sky. Where its light shimmered, even the darkness did not touch. Something about the glade surrounding the Stone felt safe and protected — but SoYa could not say how much longer that would last.

The machine that NaDo set up next to the Stone was a marvel of technology, even more so than his ships and the endless lines of gadgets that ran the length of the walls of the Shellab. All wires and hums and tall flat looking screens, it somehow managed to tap into the vast energies of the tall Vision Stone. Under the right hands, NaDo had said, the Stone’s power might even be bent to the user’s will.

It’s hard to believe that a little boy can trigger all this…

KiNa’s hands were little, but the right ones. The moment the child placed his palms against the slick touch pad of the machine, the stone had burst into a brilliant light. The distant sound of ancient song rustled through the winds of the glade. And the tallest crystal face along the side of the Vision Stone had flickered with an image.

Just as NaDo described…

The picture wavered, glowing before them. A land that was not their own. But a living world just the same. There was no sight of city nor structure. Just a rolling forest and long green hills. A place that gave the feeling of peace. Perhaps safety, if hidden away from the searching eyes of the Dark Sygnus.

As the three Arweinydd focused their powers around the machine next to KiNa, the image of the distant land became more and more clear. More stable. The shimmering ripples of a riftway had spread across the face of the stone. It had become a gateway into this strange new world.

And now, the winged people were filing through this rift as quickly as they could. Women and children were assisted by the soldiers, feet shuffling up the slick crystalline incline that lead to the rift. Their faces were haunted with the fears that hung just over the edge of the forest — they could feel the pressure of the prowling death coming ever closer. No one dared to hesitate — even a completely alien land was less frightening than the Dark Sygnus’ wrath.

There were so many people. So little time. And knowing that Kudako and Aur could only hold the Sygnus at bay for a short while, SoYa didn’t know how they would get everyone to safety.

“AsaHi,” the Athrylith took her by the shoulders and started nudging her towards the stream of moving people. “I want you to go.”

“What? SoYa! I’m not leaving you here!” she protested instantly, just as he knew she would.

“Please! I’ll follow you. Don’t worry! I just have to know that you get through safe,” he tried to reassure her. At this point, they both knew that nothing could be promised.

“Don’t leave me, SoYa…” AsaHi hung on to his shoulders, tears in her eyes.

“I won’t leave you. But I have to help make sure everyone else gets through safely. That includes you,” he told her.

A broken sound. An uncharacteristic sob. Her strength had finally been spent in the face of so much death and loss. AsaHi threw her arms around his shoulders, burying her face into his tunic. It was the hardest thing he could do to force her to let go. But he did, giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

One of the soldiers saw his plight and took AsaHi by the upper arm, “Come with me, Miss.”

“No!” she tried to struggle. But he was far stronger as he led her towards the rippling face of the Stone.

SoYa could only watch, his heart aching.

AsaHi turned and reached back towards him. She called his name frantically, but he couldn’t hear her voice above the hum of the machine and the rift winds. Then, in a flash of soft blue light, AsaHi had stepped through, fading into the crowd of winged people. Lost to his sight.

“Keep going,” NaDo coached. “We’ve almost got everyone. We’re doing a lot better than I had hoped.”

Despite the positive words, SoYa could only glance back over his shoulder with a worried frown. The shadows and mists were moving again. And approaching fast.

“NaDo… Maru… you should take KiNa and get through,” Zemi’s tone was concerned. He, too, saw the motion in the forest behind them.

“Just a little bit more, Lord Dragon,” NaDo assured him. “We have to make sure the machine is properly dismantled and the rift shut… or there’s a chance we can be followed. That would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?”

As the last of the winged people gathered through the gateway, SoYa saw a lone figure holding back. A figure he recognized instantly.

“JouKa, what are you doing?” he rushed over towards her. “You have to get through the rift.”

“We’re beginning the dismantling process,” NaDo announced. “Everyone get ready to make a run for it!”

JouKa turned with a silent, haunted face. “I’m not goin’.”

“What? You can’t stay here!” SoYa protested. “You’ll be killed.”

“Then I will. But I’m not goin’. This is my world… my ‘ome. I’m not lettin’ some winged freak push me outta it!” she gave him a hard glare.

He took her arm, “Be reasonable! You’ve got nothing to gain by getting yourself killed here.”

She jerked her arm away quickly, backing away with a snarl. “Gain? Everything is gone! KoGu is dead! TsuYa is Marked! Our ‘ome is destroyed. People are dyin’! Tell me what’s worth seein’?”

“Power down, eighty percent!” NaDo’s voice warned.

“JouKa!” he reached for her again.

She dodged back, “You don’t order me around, Neffie! Go save yer own skin. I’ll take care of myself!”

“Seventy-five percent!”

SoYa drew in a frantic breath. He could see that nothing short of forcing her was going to work… and they just didn’t have the time.

Before he could reach out for her again, a deafening crack broke the sky above. The shadows and mists rolled in, struggling to press upon the brilliant blue of the Vision Stone. But the Dark Sygnus strolled forward, unaffected, long glimmering black blade held ready in one hand. It dripped, heavy with gore and blood.

JouKa gave a horrified scream, reeling away from SoYa’s hand. He could only stumble back in shocked astonishment as the girl whirled around and took off running. Not into the rift of the Vision Stone. But into the depths of the forest, the opposite direction of shadows and mists. He shouted her name, watching helplessly as she vanished between the trees.

The Sygnus’ laugher was chilling as he advanced. His smile was hollow and void of any emotion. His voice low and level, “Zemi Dreigiau… you sent your pets to do an Arweinydd’s job. And then you mourn their death. How hypocritical.”

With a flick of his wrist, the Dark Sygnus heaved a heavy, curved sword forward, tossing it at the Dreigiau’s feet. It glittered with a deep golden sheen, decorated by the etchings of a long, majestic lion. It, too, was splattered with blood.

Zemi’s face contorted at the sight of it. A sudden rage burned in his eyes, focus breaking away from the rift, shifting to the harbinger that stood before them.

“Zemi! No! Don’t — crud! Energy levels dropping drastically! We need to get out!” NaDo shouted a warning.

“Hypocritical. Just like everything you’ve ever said to me,” Lucci hissed.

“No! It was never like that! Never!” Zemi snarled, moving towards the Sygnus with a deadly furor. “We took you in! Cared for you! Gave you a home and even trained you! How could you turn on us like this?!”

“Did you really think that your so-called care,” the Sygnus drew the word out in disdain, “Could stop what I was meant to become? I didn’t kill these people, Dreigiau. Your idealistic hope did!”

A rumble rose up in Zemi’s throat, his eyes locked on the Sygnus.

Lucci lifted his blade, ready. A sickly smile crossed his face, “That’s right. Let me drink your power, Arweinydd. You would give me far more than these little Earthians have.”

“ZEMI! RIFT IS CLOSING!” NaDo’s voice bellowed, trying to break through the rage.

Zemi didn’t flinch. It was as if nothing but the Sygnus existed to him at this moment — the clashing of wills, a face-off of natural enemies that stretched back into ancient times, back to the Time Before.

Sygnus and Arweinydd.

And if legends spoke rightly, the Arweinydd would lose.

I can’t just stand and watch this! I have to do something!

SoYa thrust his staff forward, focusing his power into the stone. The staff that his father had once helped him craft… back when he had first learned what it had meant to be what he was, an Athrylith. And all that time they had spent recently… Father training him so hard. Teaching him. And Tsu.

Tsu…

And Aunt SaRa. Now Kudako. Aur. They would never see the light of this new world, the memories and sacrifices lost to the old lands. They would not be there to guide the struggles of the refugees that would have to work to start all over again. He was the last of the Ya family line. He alone, would have to lead the people.

And it’s all… your… FAULT!

A pulse of multi-colored power lit the staff’s stone, sending a shaft of light straight into the fray, slicing between Sygnus and Arweinydd. Unexpected, Lucci reeled back from the blast, a crackling pulse spreading across his shoulder, smoking where he was hit.

“ZEMI!” NaDo demanded.

Finally, the Arweinydd jerked his head around. He stared at NaDo, then at the wavering rift in realization. Whatever had held the Dreigiau captivated had broken as the Sygnus’ attention swung about, focusing with a terrible intensity on SoYa instead.

“You… the son of ZenToYa…”

It felt like the breath was being crushed out of SoYa’s lungs. Shifting tendrils of mist crept over the ground, towards his feet. But no matter how much he fought and threw his will against it, he could not find the strength to move.

“You think you can fight me when your father could not?” the Sygnus sneered taking a slow step forward.

Searing pain raced through his limbs, shadows moving over him, gripping him. For a fleeting moment, SoYa was reminded of the shadows that had taken his brother.

“Would you really give your life for your people? What would you risk to defend your homelands?”

“Every…thing…” SoYa croaked, fighting for breath.

“Then you shall be bound to share the tainted fate of Nefol,” the chilling voice cursed him.

The Sygnus’ silver eyes bore into his own, stripping away all the warmth in the world. SoYa doubled over, the pain becoming too intense for him to bear. His shaking hands struggled to keep grip of his staff, knees trembling and dropping him to the ground. His watery eyes could make out the darkness that had begun to stretch across his skin, spreading from his fingertips and up his arms.

“Power at 30 percent! Now or never!” NaDo’s voice edged with worry.

Faintly, SoYa could hear Maru’s pleading voice. “Take KiNa! Take him, Lady Zazo!”

-Don’t you think I have enough to carry?- the She-Wolf growled as she bore the Marked Champion towards the fading rift.

“He’s just a little boy! Please, take him!” a mother’s cry.

Even Zazo couldn’t seem to deny that. With a huff, the Arweinydd clamped down on the back of the child’s tunic, lifting the boy between her teeth.

“Mommy!” KiNa cried, little wings stretching and straining, reaching for his parents. “Daddy!”

“GO! GO!” NaDo shouted, slamming his fist on the machine as if to keep it running just a few moments longer.

The She-Wolf whipped around, lunging for the rift, carrying child and Marked through the final flickers of the blue Vision Stone light.

SoYa felt himself lifted from behind. Strong hands pulling him up, off his feet. The world jolted around him as his senses faded in and out of awareness. Distantly, he could see Zemi above him, carrying him.

“Lucci! You don’t have to do this!” Maru’s voice echoed from what seemed an immeasurable distance. “We know this isn’t you! This isn’t what you’d want!”

The Sygnus’ step faltered, but only momentarily. His voice was grave, “It’s too late for that.”

“No! No it’s not! You have to stop this!” NaDo begged.

SoYa felt the trickling light surround them as Zemi ran, carrying him to the rift. He reached back towards the wavering images of NaDo and Maru as they moved forward. He watched as they put themselves between the Stone and the Sygnus.

“I can’t!” Lucci cried and lunged forward, his fevered silver eyes locked upon the retreating Dreigiau.

The black blade lifted.

The sounds of screams. A crack like thunder split the air. A brilliant blue light.

The sensation of falling. Burning agony and choking breath. A terrible pain ripping through his body. Pain so overwhelming that drove his thoughts and senses to nothingness.

His mind reeled, struggling to keep hold of himself. But then that, too, was washed away.

There was no sensation left… followed by a deep, dark sleep.

The Sygnus’ long silver hair swayed with a ghostly quality, blending into the flow of mist that billowed around him.

“Lucci! Lucci, you CAN’T do this!” Kaz’s voice pleaded from behind him. The cry was so desperate. So hoarse and filled with fear. It was so unlike how his friend usually sounded.

Lucci turned, pausing just a moment on the long, broken stairway to look back. The Sygnus’ long silver hair swayed with a ghostly quality, blending into the flow of mist that billowed around him, gleaming along the outline of his tall silver wings. The mist was always there now. They were always there in the mist. There was no getting rid of Them.

No running away from what he was. They had traveled long across the now-barren lands of the Inner Realms, all the way to the darkened heart of Nefol. There was no turning back. He knew what he had to do.

“I have to stop him,” Lucci answered in a boyish way. But his voice was not a child’s voice anymore – he was no longer the boy that Kaz had guided. “There’s only one way. You know that.”

“No… Lucci… look at yourself!” the spirit motioned with both hands. “This sword… these wings… You’re not thinking straight!”

“I’m fine!” the Sygnus snapped back with a tone he had never used with his friend before. Instantly, something deep inside him felt ashamed. And he lowered his voice. “When I get done, it’ll be over with, Kaz. Then no one will have to be afraid anymore.”

Kaz just looked stunned. And older somehow. His eyes were sad, ringed with worry and the inability to stop what he saw unfolding before him. But he tried one last time, “Please, Lucci-boy. Come home with me.”

It was the wrong thing to say. And the spirit realized it with a blanch the moment that the silver light sparked in the Sygnus’ eyes.

“Home?” Lucci flourished the long slender sword in one fist. It gave off a cold and victorious light, feeding into the mists. Into the chill that surrounded the silver-haired young man. “Home? In case you didn’t notice, there is no home to go back to. The Islands have fallen! Wyndor will be next! There will be nowhere to go to! This has got to be stopped!”

Without further words, the Sygnus wheeled around and began to storm up the stairs once more. The structure that loomed before him was tall, tilted to one side and cracked up and down its length. It was what was left of the once-great Spire of Nefol. But now that the Inner Realms had completely fallen under the sway of Zeromus’ taint and darkness, there was little left of the former beauty and light of the land.

If he was nervous about what he knew was coming, Lucci didn’t show it. He simply gripped the long dark blade in one hand. With the other hand he adjusted the shoulder of his light armor… which he had pieced together from plates that belonged to people three sizes smaller than him.

Not as if that matters now. I doubt I’m going to be walking away from this fight.

Zeromus.

He was the cause of every pain, darkness and death that the Sygnus had known. Time after time. Battle after battle. Little by little… the dark, ruthless force had chipped away at the last of the light, held within the people of the Dreigiau. And now, with Ceiswyr gone, hope had plummeted, just like the Islands from the sky.

But now that I have this sword… I can defeat him. Whether or not he really is my…

All of his life, Lucci had been treated as the Bane. The one that would tear the world he loved apart. Because he was a Sygnus — a child of the heavens and the earth. Possessing unknown powers, wrapped in the cold child of death itself. And because his father was said to be Zeromus, the Hatred.

But none of that mattered now. Whether or not the people of Ceiswyr believed in him. Whether or not he had any chance against the shadow that was so much greater than him. He was going to fight it. Just like he promised Lord Zemi he would.

And maybe then… they’ll like me.

The way ahead was blocked at the top of the stairs. But this did not concern Lucci. The huge doors crashed inwards at a flick of his hand. The rock cracked and crumpled into a pile on the other side of the doorway as if it was nothing more than brittled bread. He stepped over it, his tall black boots crushing down on the rubble as if he bore an immense and invisible weight.

Kaz had stopped, frozen on the other side of the doorway. Lucci didn’t say anything, but he could feel the lack of his guide behind him. In response to his thoughts, an answer came, low and sad.

“I am not strong enough to enter Zeromus’ Keep. This is as far as I can go, Lucci-boy,” the spirit intoned with a heavy sound. Unshed tears glittered in his eyes… if such a thing could really exist within one that had passed into the Mists.

“Thank you for everything, Kaz,” the young Sygnus paused. He looked back a last time, wishing he had not. The sight of tears was almost too much for him. Almost enough to make the child he once was want to rush back and embrace his old friend. Steeling his emotions, he pursed his lips instead. “I won’t forget…”

Lucci could hear the sound of Kaz’s weeping as he turned away again, “I won’t forget you… either… Lucci-boy…”

As he walked, the anguished sound was soon swallowed up within the pressing darkness that surrounded him. The only light was the swirling of the silver mists and the dim glow that trickled from his wings. Even that seemed to struggle to remain. Breath also came hard in the depths of the Spire, as the very air there was too tainted and decayed to breathe.

The young Sygnus couldn’t see where his steps were leading him. All he had was the depths of his senses. The overwhelming knowledge of where his enemy, his father, was.

If Zeromus could be called a father at all.

I was nothing to him… nothing but a weapon.

Lucci sucked in a long breath, pausing as a shaft of light appeared somewhere in the distance. The first thing that he had seen since entering the structure.

A low hiss echoed across the darkness of the chamber. In the lone shaft of light, Lucci could see the hunched forms of shadows loping towards him. Only the slightest glimmer of black eyes, then they were gone. The room was filled with the sound of animalistic hisses and half screeches.

The Marked! They weren’t supposed to be here! I thought they’d all be in the Spiral!

The creatures of Zeromus were awake and on the prowl. Though usually the Marked were very little challenge for him – in fact, they were often too scared of Lucci to even attack him – these advanced with a particularly aggressive air.

There’s a lot of them… this could be a problem.

Claws and fangs gleamed sharply as they paced just on the fringe of the shrinking cloud of mist around the Sygnus’ feet. What had once been whole and healthy creatures… people… animals… were now nothing but decayed, mindless husks of their former life.

I should have known Zeromus wouldn’t leave himself unguarded.

Lucci had fought his share of Marked … but now he was on Zeromus’ turf where these creatures were fed directly with the dark power. And Marked were notorious for inhuman strength and speed.

I wonder if they’ll attack. And if they do… can I beat them?

The stench of decay grew too overwhelming for Lucci to bear. He drew his collar up over his nose, backing away slowly, his blade held tightly in his other hand. His silver eyes darted around, looking for anything he could use to his advantage. But there was nothing. Nothing but darkness and the wicked things that grew there.

The Marked began to fret and hiss as he moved. Some lashed at his feet with black dripping claws, reeling back as the silver mists turned away their strikes. They shrieked from it, like a creature scathed. And began to strike more fiercely at the offending mist, advancing closer and closer towards Lucci.

Suddenly, a tremendous, soul-freezing sound shattered the air. A large winged shadow swept out from walls of darkness, alighting deftly in the center of the streaming light. Another shriek erupted from its mouth as it raised a flashing, black-bladed scythe over its head. A weapon that was all too familiar to the young Sygnus.

“M…Master… TsuYa?” Lucci staggered back at the sight. For the first time, real fear began to break through his façade of bravery.

The rest of the Marked scattered at the sound of the great shriek, commanded back to their darkness once again. It was obvious that the winged Champion held a lot of power over the lesser creatures. Once the other Marked were gone, the vicious black eyes focused on Lucci. The young Sygnus recoiled more — this creature was hardly like the Master TsuYa he remembered.

Last time I saw him… he was Marked but…

The winged Marked was far larger than Lucci remembered, wrapped in the drape of cloth that had been torn and shredded where his form had out-grown it in places. His skin was a dead grey color and mottled with seething gashes of ooze where many thick black spikes had erupted through his flesh. His hair was also dark, except for the one shock of white that fell across his brow and partly obscured his face. Wide wings of black spread from his shoulders, dripping in decay.

Lucci’s stomach twisted in revulsion and grief. One of the things he had hoped to do by facing Zeromus was to free his former teacher from the curse of the Marked.

But maybe… I’m too late now.

“Put the sword down, boy,” TsuYa’s lips curled back, a showing of fangs. His clawed hands gripped the scythe in warning.

Lucci suddenly realized that he was holding his own weapon ready, as if to take on the Marked Champion. Just as quickly, he dropped the point, shivering to think what might happen should he go head to head with Master TsuYa’s battle prowess.

“That’s better.”

“You can still… talk?”

Another snarl, “Of course I can.”

“Master TsuYa, I–”

“That’s not my name anymore,” a low growl erupted from behind black eyes.

Lucci took a step back in surprise. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. Afterall, if he wasn’t supposed to call Master TsuYa by his own name, he didn’t know what to call him.

“Nevermind,” the Champion gave a snuff, grounding the butt of his scythe by his boot. “Follow me. Master Zeromus is expecting you.”

“You mean… you’re going to take me to him?” the Sygnus asked.

“Those were my orders.”

“Oh?” Lucci said, feeling the prickle of unease over his skin.

But before he could ask any more questions, Master TsuYa was already on the move, heading towards the single dark outline of an arched doorway ahead. The Sygnus followed quickly, not wanting to be left behind when the other Marked crept out once again.

Unlike the previous chambers, this one was alight with an eerie silver glow. A familiar sort of light – the kind that Lucci always saw in the mists around him. Only, this silver didn’t belong to him. Or the mists. It was something else. And as he stepped inside, he could see that the glow was contained in a large glass-like globe.

But Zeromus was nowhere to be found.

“What is this?” the Sygnus asked, turning towards the Champion.

The way that the silver reflected off of Master TsuYa’s hollow eyes was unnerving. Just as unnerving as the silence. The winged Marked said nothing. He simply back-stepped out of the room. Before Lucci could argue, the arched doorway shut with a thunderous sound, leaving no spot in the wall that showed there had ever been a door before.

“WAIT!” Lucci shouted, fear beginning to bubble up within him. He pounded on the wall with one fist. But it was closed solid. “Master TsuYa! Don’t leave me here!”

There was nothing but silence as his answer.

Maybe there’s another way out…

Lucci peered around the strange chamber cautiously. His limbs felt suspended and his motions, even walking, odd and under-watery. Light seemed to flicker through draping veils of various color from above, casting skittering shadows upon the wall. The floor under his feet, looking to have once been polished to a shine, was far too grimy now to give up his reflection.

The humid stench of death and long-rot draped over the room, seeping into his pores. Death of a very violent nature. Long, stiff figures lay crumpled against the far wall, some seeping dark pools that charted rivers across the grimy floor. Faceless, they were covered in long white squares of cloth, bearing the splattered remembrance of once-living things.

Why does this place feel so familiar…?

In the center of the room was a display of technological wonder. Everything about it was eerily alien — a strange spiral of life tangled within death. The structure emanated a pale, ghostly light as if infused by the lost souls of the pooling figures on the far side of the chamber.

Why do I think that I’ve been here before?

“Because,” a distant voice rose to greet him. A voice that he knew without knowing. “This was the place where you came into existence, LuShi.”

The Sygnus turned quickly, gripping his sword more tightly. “Zeromus.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Come out and show yourself!” Lucci grounded his teeth, turning around again. There was no sight of the bearer of the voice.

“My son… Are you so ready to take this step without knowing all there is to know?”

He shook his head, “I’ve seen enough. I know enough. And I’m not your son!”

“You can deny many things about yourself, child. But you cannot deny that,” the voice chuckled softly. It was so calm. Bearing so little ill will.

But Lucci knew it had to be a trick. “I’m here to put an end to this. You’ve taken… you’ve killed… too many people!”

“And you think you have not?” came the ripple of an answer.

The Sygnus grew stiff, a cold feeling bottoming at the pit of his stomach. When he answered, it was with slow words, “No. I’ve never killed anyone.”

“Are you sure, LuShi?”

“Yes! I’m sure! I’ve never hurt anyone! I’ve never killed anyone! Nothing except for your Marked… but they’re already dead,” he replied, becoming a bit more frantic.

“Ahh… but that is where you are unaware.”

“Unware?”

“Unaware of yourself. What you are. And what was done to create you.”

Part of Lucci reeled back in revulsion. Did he want to know? For knowing, once unlocked, could never be taken back. Everything he had ever learned in life had only stolen away the innocence that had brought him happiness.

Yet…

It was too tempting. There were so many questions he had. So many things he wanted to know.

“I have brought you here to give you a gift, my son,” the voice was coaxing. Almost warm. Almost fatherly.

And much to his dismay, something within Lucci responded to that voice. Something that he found he had very little control over.

“You see… you may not have killed anyone by your own hand, child. But hundreds upon hundreds died to bring about your creation,” the words intoned, burning into his mind. “To feed your soul and give it awareness… to bind you to the world of the Mists. Where death is your power… and your one hungry desire.”

Lucci began to shake.

People… died?  He killed people… to create me?

“Yes… I know you’ve felt it, LuShi. You can’t escape what you were born to become. Already, it’s begun. The wings are just the start,” the voice told him gently. “You’ve fought and fought to be like them. And all they will ever do is reject you. Because you are so much more… you are the embodiment of all that the living fear.”

“No…” his voice cracked with pain. The pain of realization. That what Zeromus said was true. As much as he hated it. It was all true.

I wasn’t born. I was made.

His eyes lifted, darkened by the churning shadows that drew nearer and nearer. That crowded his mind. Twisted his thought.

And I was made with this curse. This curse powered by death…

The strange silver light held within the globe in the center of the room churned in time to the darkness outside. And he felt strangely compelled to walk towards it. One hand reached up, towards the calling light.

I was made to become exactly what he wanted me to be — the Bane.

“That’s right… here is your gift, my son,” the voice urged him. “Take it. Receive your real wings.”

Real wings? But I already have…

Lucci withdrew his hand quickly. But it was a moment too late. Cracks had already formed along the side of the globe – the silver light was compelled to move towards Lucci just as much as he was to it. That’s when he realized that locked within were the spirits of all those who had been destroyed in order to create him.

“NO!” he pulled back with a sharp breath.

But the orb shattered, sending a spray of glass across the room. Shards slashed into his flesh, but Lucci did not feel it. The only thing he could see was the churning silver light as it rose up over him like a cresting wave. As it crashed down on him, he could feel an immense power rush through his limbs, lifting him up, even as a cry of despair rang from his lips.

He was losing himself.

Fragments.

He saw hundreds of lives flash before his eyes.

Joy. Sorrow. Discovery. Loss. All of it drew into him.

All of it filled every inch of him, squeezing him from inside until he felt like he would burst. Squeezing him until all that was himself could no longer be told apart from that which was so many others.

Burning.

And when he looked into the last remaining crest of glass, where the round orb once stood, he saw a reflection that he did not recognize. Blood streaks. Long, ragged silver hair. A dark sword in one hand. And the large arcs of silver wings rising from his back.

But, no matter how intently he looked, he could not remember his name.

A soft voice rose up, tickling the back of his mind. He thought he should know it.

He thought that there was something about the voice that was important. Perhaps it was the reason he was standing there in that strange room to begin with?

But none of that mattered as he listened with new delight. For the voice was offering him something he had lost — his name.

“Luccious. My son… you have come back to me.”

The little winged girl was safe, cradled against his chest.

“TsuuuuYaaaa!” KoGuRai’s face contorted in an animalistic snarl. His dark eyes focused sharply on the warrior, full of hate and fury.

“Did you forget about me?” TsuYa smirked. He coolly wiping his blade off on the edge of his coat only to find, to his dismay, that the black ooze ate right through the cloth.

“Turn around and walk away. This is between me… and LuShi,” the Champion sneered.

“Oh? Then why are you dragging little girls into this? Are you trying to break your record for hostage taking… the coward that you are,” he sneered back.

This time… this is it. This time… you’re not walking away alive, KoGuRai. We already know your tricks. It’s time for this to stop.

TsuYa ground his heel against the stone, poised and ready to strike. KoGuRai took a step back, nursing his wounded shoulder, both fists clamped tightly around the haft of his naginata. But before any blows could be exchanged, a shout rang out across path.

“TsuYa! TsuYa, wait!!”

The warrior gave a quiet curse under his breath. Things were about to get even more complicated.

“JouKa..?” KoGuRai paused, turning at the sound. It was strange how the Marked Champion could throw out scathing threats with the same voice that could sound so concerned.

The winged girl rushed out into the center of the fray, eyes wide as she stared between them. Then she stopped, peering straight at KoGuRai for a long, long time. For once, she seemed completely lost for words.

KoGuRai also stared at her, lowering his weapon just a bit. The silence between them was awkward and heavy. Finally, he took a step towards her. “JouKa… I’ve finally found you. Have you come to me at last?”

TsuYa made a blech face.

“KoGu… what… what… ‘ave you done?” she shook her head, taking a step back.

“Wait. Wait, JouKa. I can explain everything… just listen…” he approached, with hands wide in a gesture that spoke of harmlessness.

“Explain? Explain… what? The village ya razed? All of the people ya killed?” her voice was quiet, nothing more but a shaken whisper. “‘Ow can you possibly explain somethin’ like that?”

“Village…?” his face grew as pale as a Marked complexion could. “No… that wasn’t me, JouKa! I swear!”

“Then who was it, KoGu? Someone that looked like you and yer pet Esgyll?” she retorted hotly.

“If you’d just let me talk, I could tell you.”

“Then tell me about Mister NaDo. And about takin’ him ‘ostage. Splittin’ his back straight open. Tell me that wasn’t something that ya did, KoGuRai?” JouKa gave him a sick, pained look.

“JouKa…”

“You didn’t ‘ave to ‘eal those people — I did!” she snapped, not allowing him a moment of explanation. “I saw what came of it all… and I just can’t believe…”

KoGuRai fell silent, looking down at his fists, gripping the haft of his naginata. His hands were shaking as if fighting back some kind of internal violence.

“What’s ‘appened to you?” tears shown in her eyes. “I wanted to believe in you. But after what I’ve seen, all I can think is… you really ‘ave become a monster!”

The Marked Champion’s head snapped up with a bitter glare. The expression that had been concerned and shocked had turned cold and distant.

“I see what’s going on here,” KoGuRai’s voice grew low and gravely. His dark eyes shifted from JouKa to TsuYa and back again. “TsuYa’s turned you against me, hasn’t he? You’ve fallen for him while I was gone. You’ve fallen for him and you’ve betrayed me to him, haven’t you?”

“What? KoGu… what in the name of the Light are you talkin’ about?” she shook her head with a frustrated and confused look.

“You know what I’m talking about!” before she could pull back, his hand shot out, grabbing her roughly around the wrist. The air crackled red, furious Chaos. KoGuRai was losing himself. “All this time I was trying to find you again. I was promised that he would give you to me and we would take Nefol together! But you’ve ruined it all! You’ve run off with TsuYa!”

“KoGu!!” JouKa’s voice raised an octave, for the first time, real fear shown in her eyes as he loomed huge above her. “It’s not like that at all!”

“Are you Promised to him!?” KoGuRai almost roared, fangs gleaming as he pulled her closer.

“NO! KOGU! Yer ‘urtin’ me!!” the winged girl yanked back in pain. TsuYa could see the strength of the Marked Champion’s fist closing tighter around the girl’s arm. And he knew exactly how strong a Marked could be.

“STOPPIT!!” TsuYa leapt forward with a snarl of his own, slamming between JouKa and KoGuRai. “LET HER GO!”

The winged girl stumbled back, knocked free from the terrible grip… just at the same moment the Marked claw slashed out, leaving long, bloody gashes straight through TsuYa’s shoulder. He gave a choking gasp at the unexpected pain, dodging just as the claw came for him again.

Somewhere in the distance he heard JouKa’s scream and the choked cry of Suzume. The world wavered and shifted around him as his senses tunneled. Fury began to burn within. Everything focused on the dark winged figure of the Marked Champion before him. His rival. His enemy. One who would kill and destroy in order to steal everything that his family had sacrificed everything for – Nefol… his people… his friends…

I won’t let you hurt them!

KoGuRai bore down on him with blade in hand, a dark maelstrom of hate. His wings stretched wide, the twisted taint of Chaos choked the air. Animalistic insanity and bloodlust had transformed the Marked Champion’s face – if there was anything left of the son of JinRai, it was impossible to see it.

TsuYa floundered back, barely deflecting the blows that came again. And again. And again. His shoulder was in shreds, wounds open and burning with the acidic nature of the Marked attacks. His chest grew tight, breath rasping in his lungs as he fought to keep his feet under him.

I… can’t. I can’t hold up under this! He’s so strong!

Pain exploded along his left side. TsuYa watched, to his horror, as dark crimson fountained from KoGuRai’s blade as it tore into his body. His cry was wretched… so unlike the warrior he had fought to be. For years and years and years. All the training and hardship. Everything that he had strove to be… to be like his father. His brother. The ones that people respected.

And I will die like this… on the end of this monster’s blade…?

Eyes darkening, TsuYa’s face broke into a snarl of his own.

I refuse!

With an agonized groan, he pulled himself off of the point of the naginata. KoGuRai loomed over him, a smug look of triumph stretched over his face. The battle was won in his mind. He was merely toying with TsuYa now… doing everything he could to make the warrior’s death as shamed and futile as possible.

That will be your biggest mistake!

Distantly, he heard the sound of voices. JouKa and LuShi calling frantically. TsuYa could only watch with horrified, blurry eyes as Suzume rushed out between, little wings unfolded. She darted in, face angry and determined, yelling at KoGuRai as loud as her child-voice allowed.

Kid! What are you doing!?

Something grew deathly cold within his chest as he saw the glint of KoGuRai’s blade flash. The naginata lifted into the air, poised above the child’s head. So deliberate. The Marked Champion’s expression did not change… as if it was nothing more to him than swatting away a meaningless irritation.

Suzume!!

Fingers digging into the ground, TsuYa drove himself back up on his feet. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t speak. His body wasn’t responding. Everything felt so cold, as if all the heat had rushed out of his body.

I WON’T LET YOU!

A dazzling white light suddenly flooded the world. In the brilliance of the flash, he could make out KoGuRai reeling back, wincing against the blinding radiance. Suzume gave a shout, falling back in surprise, but unharmed.

His arms were around her. Just that sudden. TsuYa hadn’t realized he had the strength to move. But he was there. The little winged girl was safe, cradled against his chest.

Suzume stared up at him with awe. TsuYa could see his reflection in her dark eyes… he realized that the light was coming from him. Her voice was hardly a whisper when she spoke, “Wings…”

What…?

Stretching wide around him were wings of luminous white. Wings that belonged to him.

No way…! I’m…

Wings that looked exactly like Father’s. So much like Father’s, in fact, that TsuYa almost gave a shout for joy. For once, he could feel it… the endless possibilities. The potentials within himself. That he could be exactly what he had always dreamed of being. What he had worked so hard to become.

I’m Awakened!! I’m-

The sharp sound of a crack shattered his world. Pain. Terrible burning pain suddenly rushed through every inch of his body. The look of delight and awe on Suzume’s face shifted instantly to fear. With a strangled sound, he released the winged girl, stumbling away from her.

“TsuYa!! TsuYa!! Are you alright!?” she called to him.

He tried to answer, but no words would come. Nothing in his throat but a low, terrible growl. It bubbled and frothed its way out of his mouth, then shattered the air with an animalistic shriek. He clutched frantically at the source of the sudden pain, at his throat, just under his shirt. His fingers came away bloody. Blood that slowly turned black. Black like Marked blood.

NOO! NOOO!

Where Aur’s protective medallion had once hung around his neck, there was nothing left but a warped piece of blackened metal. And he realized, in horror, that under the pressure of his Awakening, the amulet had broken. It was destroyed.

PLEASE NO!!

And with it, his protection against the darkness had fled. Not even the power of Awakening seemed to be enough to protect him.

Please… please help me…

It felt like something was tearing him from inside out. His blood at once burned and froze. His body trembling as he convulsed, dropping him to his knees. He tried to cry out in agony, but nothing came except hisses and growls.

-No one can help you now, TsuYa… You are MINE.-

TsuYa’s flesh had darkened to grey, spotting black. His skin began to split as dark spikes of black burst through. A sharp rip as his coat gave way — his form growing and expanding far beyond his normal size. Black blood streamed from the bubbling wounds… from his eyes… his mouth… his nose… the Mark along his cheek. The darkness bled into his hair. Along the lines of his wings… until black feathers dripped with thick ooze.

And the terrible voice sounded in his mind.

-My Champion… greatness waits for you. Now come to me. Come to me…-

He fought it with every last bit of strength in him. Snarling and shrieking against the voice that invaded his thoughts. Everything was a blur. The world spun dizzy around him as the pressure of Chaos closed in on him. The sound of metal clashing, shrieks and battle were so distant and far away.

When he finally found breath again, it was rasping hisses. He stared down at his hands – now nothing more than beastly claws. And the thick black blood that ran over them. He realized the blood was not his own. Looking down at the ground, he saw the mangled and motionless form of KoGuRai’s body, the silver helm bent under the heel of his boot.

Is he… is KoGuRai… dead..?

Sickness welled up in the pit of his stomach. Sickness as he saw the blurred and twisted reflection of his face in the smudged sheen of the metal helm. KoGuRai was not rising. A pool of black spread around him where he lay in the dust.

TsuYa had won, he realized. He had taken the life of his enemy. But he had lost himself in return.

And at the risk of being misunderstood… I do love you, Zemi Dreigiau!

Please… let me be strong enough…

AsaHi gripped the thick white mane in both of her hands, laying flat against the huge white Dragon’s back. All at once she felt very tiny and very vast – she was both the rider and the Dragon. She could feel and breathe the world with the immense senses of the Dreigiau. But at the same time, she knew that she was just the small, clinging and frightened girl on his back.

Please let me know what to do if Chaos comes…

Dragons and monsters swept around them on every side. Streaks of red flame. Flashes of dark lightning. Blood-freezing screeches and ear-shattering roars. All of it moved around her with an unreal quality.

Her mind flickered back to thinking about SoYa… where he was. What he would do through the battle. She was certain that KaiShi would never allow any harm come to him. But the girl still couldn’t help but worry about him. Afterall, Brunswik’s reports had not been exaggerated.

The Esgyll were far bigger and more dangerous than the ones that she had seen before. Obviously, they had been tweaked to better enable them to fight against Zemi’s Dragons. Everything had been altered — from their size, speed, to their new ability to shoot crackling dark lightning. And it made AsaHi all the more afraid.

Zeromus is learning how to enhance his monsters. Learning from his mistakes. He’s adjusting and changing things.

She probably shouldn’t have been surprised by this. Afterall, Zeromus was once an Arweinydd, like Zemi. Though, unlike the Trine, he was wickedly clever… using his power and influence to take control, consume and twist everything he came in contact with.

And now they were flying straight into the grasps of that darkness. Straight into the core of Chaos itself. Though how they could challenge such a power, AsaHi didn’t know. Their last struggle against Zeromus had only ended when Zemi fled the battle. Anything that he had attempted to do against the power of Chaos had only swayed his own energies towards destruction.

How do we fight it… how? Even if it is just to hold Chaos back for a little longer?

A crack of sharp lightning struck so close that AsaHi could feel the electricity. The sky had grown restless, dark and churning, everything circling around them. The girl realized that they had flown far from the reaches of the main battle, deeper into the heart of the shadows where Zemi was the only point of light that she could see.

Her slender hands gripped Zemi’s mane as she fought to keep the pressing fear from overwhelming her spirit. Everywhere surrounding her was a feeling of terrible dread and hopelessness. That which would consume light and beauty.

That’s when she realized that Zemi hadn’t spoken a word in a long time. In fact, despite all of her conflicting emotion, he had sent her no feeling of support or comfort.

“Zemi! Where are we going?” her voice was tiny in the midst of the violent cloudbursts. Lightning cracked again, so close to striking that it was deflected from Zemi’s own personal energy shields.

-We have to stop this.-

The girl was startled at the sound within her mind. It was the first time in a long time that Zemi had spoken to her through thoughts rather than words. Leaning forward, she could make out the wedge-shape head of the Dragon, pointing skyward.  Something about it looked different. More feral… less Zemi.

Chaos is drawing him in! And I couldn’t even feel it!

Fear leapt into her heart as she realized, she couldn’t feel much at all from Zemi. AsaHi instantly leaned across his neck, pulling hard on his mane, fighting to pull his attention away from the forces she knew were battling inside of his heart, “No! Zemi! Wait! We can’t take on the Chaos one on one! You know that!”

-I can stop this! I am Zemi Dreigiau! Zeromus will NOT threaten my people while I stand idle and watch!-

His lips curled back in a snarl, wings stretching ever wider, pushing them ahead faster.

“Zemi!” the girl began to feel desperate. “This isn’t about power, remember! We’re not supposed to take on Zeromus. We’re supposed to protect the Islands until Lucci gets here!”

- I have the power. Even if I am Rhoi’r, I am no weakling! I do not need to rely on the strength of a mere boy-Sygnus to win my battles!-

“No one is questioning your strength, Zemi!”

-Zeromus thinks that he can take my people from me!-

“He can’t take anything from you Zemi… we choose to stay with you. We choose to fight with you. But neither you nor Zeromus can own us,” she told him, fighting to keep a level voice. “We talked about that, remember?”

-I will own and take what I very well please! And no Earthian will tell me different!- The Dreigiau responded with a deep rumble that shook her to the marrow.

“Zemi! Listen to yourself!” this time she did raise her voice. “You’re starting to sound exactly like Zeromus! Is that what you want to be? No better than him?!”

This isn’t working! He’s not listening to me!

-Who do you think you are to challenge the will of the Patron of Nefol!- The huge white Dragon let up a tremendous roar, displeased by her warnings and words.

His flight had become erratic, his mind shut away from her connection, reaching for the call and temptation of the Chaos. As much as dismay filled her, she knew she had to fight it where he could not… that she couldn’t take his words to heart. That it wasn’t Zemi talking now.

“I’m someone who cares about you, Zemi. Someone who cares a lot,” AsaHi grit her teeth, hands struggling to keep hold. It almost felt as if the howling winds around them were trying to rip her from the Dreigiau’s back.

-You don’t care about me. You love SoYa!-

The voice in her head was so bitter. So accusatory. She had never heard Zemi speak with so much spite and anger. Stunned, AsaHi found herself without words. Stung, she fought to blink back the tears in her eyes. She had no idea that Zemi was still so angry about the situation … he had led her to believe that things would be okay. That he had accepted it.

-Then what I say is true.-

“No… no… Zemi… I.. I do care about you!” she choked on the words. “And I’m really scared for you right now.”

-Prove it.-

AsaHi straightened, a panic filling her. The last thing that she had expected coming there was for her motives and feelings to be questioned. “If I don’t care about you, then why am I here?”

A rumble was her response. As if the Dreigiau was trying to find a retort against it.

“It’s safer to go with SoYa… instead of facing down the void of Chaos with an Arweinydd who is about to lose his head!” her voice grew louder in her ears. “So why would I choose to put myself into a position where I know that I’m going to be the only thing between you and the Chaos?”

Another rumble.

“I’m just an Earthian, like you said before. Don’t you think I get scared?  Don’t you think I feel little when I’m out here in the middle of all these huge things — including you?” AsaHi began to shout to be heard as the winds grew more aggressive around them. “So, why am out here? Why? Maybe it’s because I do care about you in some crazy way?”

The rumbling became more distinct. As if the Dreigiau was trying for spoken words.

“Maybe I always have? I’ve made a Promise to SoYa… but that doesn’t mean that I love only one person in the world completely. It doesn’t mean that I can’t love other people, too,” she was flat out yelling now. “There are different kinds of love in the world! Not all of them end in Promises and Bondings but they are just as valid! And at the risk of being misunderstood… I do love you, Zemi Dreigiau!”

The words cracked across the clouds like thunder, stunning the girl with their power and intensity. The winds moaned and reeled, and as AsaHi watched, the top of the cloud bank suddenly gave way to monstrous, Chaotic form. A huge dark claw swung out at her, striking her from the protection of Zemi’s back.

AsaHi screamed. She was falling fast. Down through the flaming churn of Chaos. Pain wracked her body as thousands of terrible claws slashed through her face, torso and limbs, leaving long gashes of bleeding red as she fell. But her mind was on the Dreigiau that she had left… and what would happen to him now that the connection had been broken. Now that she was no longer there.

Zemi!!!

Suddenly, a voice filled her head. It was so overwhelming, so painful that all other thoughts fled from her mind. It was a voice that she had heard once before… terrible and hateful. The voice of Zeromus.

-YOU CANNOT SAVE HIM, EARTHIAN GIRL-CHILD. YOUR LOVE IS MEANINGLESS. YOUR MEDDLING IN THE STRUGGLES OF ARWEINYDD ENDS HERE!-

But another sound met her ears. A sound from without. A great, powerful voice… calling her name.

“ASAHI!!!”

Though her vision was blurry, the girl managed to tilt her head to look up. Everything was white, warm and brilliant, bursting through the darkness of the clouds… the form of the Dreigiau spread great and luminous as he dove with maw wide open. She realized…

Zemi is trying to catch me?

Despite what the Chaos would want him to believe and feel and do. Despite the fact that his brother-enemy was there to do battle… and only a moment ago, Chaos had convinced him to strike out. Instead, Zemi chose to save her.

There was clarity in the light in his eyes as he sped downwards, wings folded. Everywhere his light passed, the claws of shadows burst away, Chaos pushed back by Zemi’s intense will and emotion. For now, AsaHi could feel it in full… true emotion filling the Arweinydd’s heart and spirit. An emotion that he may not completely understand… but one that he had completely embraced. And in doing so, something about him had grown… in character, in strength and in ability to hold back the darkness that reached for his soul.

“AsaHi…” Zemi’s voice was gentle and calming as he swooped towards her. His huge claws reached out, carefully catching her between his cupped palms and drawing her closer to his chest.

The motion was so strikingly Earthian that AsaHi was lost for words. All she could do was hold on to him, relief flooding her mind… and soaking into his as she felt the connection return between them.

A vast, contemptful growl shook the skies above them as the clouds of Chaos drew inwards again, exposing the wavery, monstrous form of  Zeromus. It was as AsaHi remembered… long streams of blue, tainted black… but this time he was enormous, spreading across the reaches of the sky and trailing out into the clouds.

Her breath caught in her throat. And though she was safe within the hold of the Dreigiau, she felt a cold dread fill her mind.

-ZEMI DREIGIAU. YOU WILL FACE ME!-

“No! I will not fight you!” Zemi responded between clenched fangs. Any desire to battle was clearly gone. No longer did the Chaos tempt him to violence.

-YOU HAVE BECOME WEAK! THE EARTHIANS HAVE STOLEN YOUR PURPOSE AND VISION. THEY HAVE FILLED YOUR MIND WITH THEIR FEELINGS… EMOTIONS… THINGS THAT WILL BE YOUR UNDOING.-

“The Earthians have done nothing to me. I have chosen to become what I have! Their ways are far superior to ours,” the Dreigiau snapped back, holding AsaHi a little closer as he did.

-THEY HAVE DRIVEN YOU MAD.-

“Mad? MAD? You talk to me about madness! Have you looked at what you’ve become?”

-YOU CANNOT SEE IT. MY SORROW GOES OUT TO YOU, BROTHER.-

“Do not call me brother! You are no longer any brother of mine,” Zemi snarled, head lowering.

-THESE THINGS ARE BUT FLEETING, ZEMI. THESE PEOPLE WILL PASS. THIS WORLD WILL WITHER. YOU CANNOT HOLD ON TO THE THINGS YOU LOVE… EVEN THAT GIRL WILL VANISH ONE DAY. AND YOU WILL BE ALONE.-

The Arweinydd choked at the thought. It was obviously something that he had considered before. But his voice came back strong as he responded, “That will not keep me from caring about them… or this world.”

-YOU HAVE SET YOURSELF UP FOR DESTRUCTION, ZEMI. THERE IS NO WHERE LEFT TO GO BUT DOWN… LET ME DEMONSTRATE THE FUTILITY OF THIS FADING EARTHIAN WORLD…-

“What?” AsaHi gasped, a chill rushing through her body at the words.

It happened so fast, there was nothing that anyone, not even Zemi could do to stop it. As they had been talking, the clouds of Chaos had been drawing energy in, strengthening, readying for the great strike. Bolts of darkness leapt from the sky, streaming down from every direction above.

“NO!!” a shout burst from her lips as she lunged forward, holding fast to the white Dragon’s claws. Horror written on her face, all she could do was watch.

The bolts of Chaos struck, one after another after another, pounding from all sides at the fragile faces of the Isles of Ceiswyr. Smaller islands simply burst into a spray of stone and dirt. Larger islands began to burn, then crack, huge pieces of land falling away and raining down from the sky. Though they were too far away to hear the alarms in the Compounds or the screams of the frightened, dying men, AsaHi could feel it. She could feel them all through Zemi’s senses.

Every blow the Islands took. Every life that was lost. The Dreigiau flinched, responding like someone in terrible physical pain. Zemi cried out, reeling back, the cry of something being ripped apart from inside out. An Earthian cry of absolute torment and agony. A cry that rose, mingled with the voiceless cry of dying Ceiswyr.

“Zemi!!!” AsaHi called frantically, her hands clutching her head. Trying to shield herself from the overwhelming waves of pain that flooded her senses. Then suddenly, it was gone.

And with the silence, came the sensation of falling.

The girl opened her eyes, staring straight into Zemi’s colorless face. He was no longer a Dragon, no longer aware… Stripped of strength and power by the profound loss of all he had created. The loss of his people. The loss of their homelands.

The Dreigiau was now falling. Just as Ceiswyr had.

“Zemi... Zemi, please! Zemi help him..!”

A dull, pounding numbness filled Zemi’s being. The heaviness of Chaos hung within the back of his mind. His eyes flicked down as a strange pulse rippled from the ground, tremulous through his wavering form. Everything within him responded with a terrible, stricken shock.

The realization of what he had just done.

AsaHi sat cradling SoYa’s limp body in her arms, head thrown back, broken wails shaking her body. Over and over she called the Apprentice’s name. The name of the one that was Promised to her.

The girl’s love seemed to take on a spectral appearance to Zemi’s senses, a shimmering glow that rose and fell with SoYa’s faltering breathing. All of her longing and desire wrapped around her Promised, a desperation and keening loss. A love that was tearing AsaHi’s soul to pieces before his very eyes.

A terrible sorrow placed upon her by his own weakness and short-sightedness.

Zemi could only watch, his breath turning cold in his lungs. It was as if he, too, could feel what death was like. The stillness that was neither joyful nor sorrow, but simply was. A spirit stolen away before its time, leaving a void within the living realms that should have never been.

The Dreigiau’s hands were shaking — something that had never happened to him before. And he knew. He knew exactly what had just happened.

The shock of emotion had pulled Zemi’s awareness from the grips of the Chaos that had nearly taken him. Somehow, the Earthian had known better than he… the Earthian had been more aware than he had… and had acted with the only power he had to keep the Dreigiau from being swept away entirely.

SoYa had been willing to sacrifice his life to save them all. So fearless was the act, it was staggering to the Arweinydd. And looking down upon the still, small form of his Apprentice, he could recognize for the first time just how much the Earthians stood to lose. How priceless life was… and how easily death could come.

“Zemi… Zemi, please! Zemi help him..!” AsaHi’s face turned toward him for the first time. Her hand reached out, grasping his sleeve in desperation. And though he was afraid of what he might find when he met her gaze, Zemi’s glowing eyes turn downward towards the girl, ready to meet her verdict.

There was shock and grief written in her expression… but not accusation. There was not a trace of the blame that he had expected to earn from her. AsaHi’s pleading jerked his thoughts from under the veil of numbness and self-accusation. A sudden pang of overwhelming emotion tightened his throat as his mind turned outward, shifting from blame to concern.

Zemi felt his senses clearing, his connection to the Drei’distau returning as his soul responded to AsaHi’s biting agony. His shock and regret reflected in the tears that streamed down her face, warmness spreading through his chest once more.

“ZEMI!” Zerom’s furious howl shattered the air in the Spire. It rebounded from the walls, ripping to recapture his brother’s attention. To regain the hold that Chaos had nearly won over the Dreigiau.

Zemi’s head turned, taken aback at the sudden change in the other Arweinydd’s tone. For the first time ever, real rage and hatred broke through Zerom’s calm outer visage. That which had always been covered by the unmoving, emotionless mask now began to flake away, the terrible truth unfolding.

He felt AsaHi’s grasp tighten on his sleeve and heard her distant scream. The Spire groaned, a jolt ripping through the foundation as the howling winds of Chaos tore through the darkness of the chamber, a vortex fixed upon the distending figure of his brother.

Zerom’s form began to distort and change, the porcelain perfection cracking, consumed by the gathering of the Chaos that he had absorbed. Swaths of alien blue mutation surged outward to extend beyond the hem of his robes, growing tangled and groping. His face was twisted in hatred, no longer recognizable as anything Earthian or Arweinydd.

Zemi felt revulsion, followed by sorrow for the one that had once been Zerom. The one that he had chosen as his brother. Consumed by the Chaos and lost to the endless hunger of destruction that could never be fully satisfied.

“Zerom..us…” Zemi’s voice cracked as he spoke. But it was too late. Zerom had chosen his path willingly.

“Fight me, Zemi!” the creature hissed as it rose up, looming and monstrous.

“No…” Zemi’s voice came as a hoarse whisper.

“FIGHT ME!!” the Hatred howled in demand. Waves of Chaos snapped forward, trying to cage the Dreigiau within the sway of darkness once more.

Zemi buckled back, attempting to resist. But the pull of Chaos was tantalizing, overwhelmingly desirable. He felt his fangs bare, a vicious snarl once more cross his lips. And he knew he was falling… falling back into the hatred again. Back into the place from which he could not return.

Images of memory flashed through his mind…

…the smile of a young boy… ZenToYa… sitting on the stone floor of the Host Gate… …peering up with trust and love at the vision of the strange white Dragon… the creature whom brought the boy knowledge of power that was far beyond the Earthians’ reach…

…visions of the early days of Nefol… the people who chose to leave their safe Gatherings to learn…. they would become his Apprentices…

…the children of ZenToYa… SoYa and TsuYa… the struggles and heartache that both had to live through due to their heritage… due to their destiny…

..the winged Awakened that awaited upon the floating Island….

…his beloved servants, the Dragons…. KaiShi… Kudako…. Brunswik… Islay…

…his sisters… Zazo… Zeni… so young in the ways of the Earthians, yet… would they follow the path of Chaos or Creation…?

…then the girl… AsaHi…

…the one who had come to him mysteriously… the one that he knew would come… the one that opened the path to his freedom… the one that had begun to teach him the meaning of love…

…so many people… those who trusted him… those who he would hurt, just as he had hurt SoYa… if he fell to the Chaos…

“Zemi!”

A pinprick of light filled the confusion within mind. A gentle touch — it was AsaHi’s hand, touching his own.

The tiny girl sat, reaching out as far as her arm could. Light green eyes met his gaze — pleading, fearful, full of anguish. He felt himself pulled toward the light that he saw there.

And the Chaos scattered from her touch. The darkness bled away from him, the Dreigiau safe and protected by her will… her strength… her understanding… and her love.

A howl of tremendous rage shook the Spire as swaths of blue groped maliciously towards AsaHi. The thing that had obstructed Chaos’ control.  Seething Hatred spat forward, driven by the desire of destruction.

Her eyes turned from the Dreigiau, pale face luminous against the immensity of the shadow. There was no fear there as she watched what was once Zerom bear down upon her. The girl did not flinch. Her grip on his hand did not loosen.

She remained by his side. True. Solid. Unyielding.

Instantly, Zemi responded. A brilliant light bloomed from the midst of the wavering vision as his own form shifted and expanded, taking on the transformation of the Dragon. His white wings rose and spread huge, bursting through the fragile stone walls of the Earthian building. His majestic head reared back, his tremendous roar shaking the heavens.

“Zemi..?!” AsaHi gasped.

She was just a tiny shape on the ground, hovering over SoYa’s motionless form. Staring up at him in wonder and awe. For now the Dragon was far more radiant than white – his power strengthened from within by the bond of understanding between them. The Chaos shed away, melting as the Dreigiau reared up, the light of Creation burning in vast contrast to the dark.

The choice had been made.

Gently, Zemi reached down with one enormous claw, carefully enclosing the two. Protecting them from the onslaught of the Zeromus. Again, the approaching shadows melted away, like paper eaten by flame. Then with one effortless bound, the Dreigiau took to the skies, carrying them away. Though his once-brother’s enraged howl trailed after him, no longer did it have any influence over his being.

The churning clouds folded away at Zemi’s command, the Chaos scattering from the brilliant white light that now consumed him. The tiny form of the Zeni-bird wheeled and capered through the sky-mists nearby. This went unnoticed… for the only thought that now hung within the Dreigiau’s mind was deep concern for the life his Apprentice, SoYa.

AsaHi’s hand gripped his sleeve more tightly, her breath gasping as she, too, responded to the alterations that had begun within the Arweinydd.

AsaHi’s scream was sharp in the air as SoYa felt himself thrown, scattered across the floor. Then he began to slide.  The entire Spire was leaning, groaning as the two Arweinydd locked in upon each other in the throws of silent mind-battle.

Jolts of energy crackled through the structure, the forms of both Zerom and Zemi taking on a strange, wavering-edged appearance. It seemed like they were shifting, changing… transforming under the force of Chaos that now saturated everything around them.

No…. Zemi!

SoYa had cried out, begged, beseeched… But his pleading had gone unnoticed, a tiny voice lost in the tempest of power that tore them all from the grips of reality and threw the chamber into pandemonium.

One glance through the windows told SoYa that the world had altered — as if they had been dropped into some alternate state of existence. The Apprentice could see the black froth of clouds swirling and churning endlessly around the tilted Spire. Streaks of eerie blue flickered and flashed underneath them, a brewing of pulsar energy gathering at the command of the Arweinydd. Somewhere far in the distance, a single point of white light flickered, throbbing like the fragile heartbeat of a world that awaited the final word.

SoYa could feel AsaHi by his side. He could see the terror reflected in her eyes as she gaped at the shifting, irresolute form of Zemi. He could sense the fear that filled her soul, but he could also sense her longing… her desire to rush up to the Dreigiau… to yank him away from the clutches of the Chaos that was bent on consuming him.

To save Zemi.

How…. how…?

He wanted to take her by the shoulders and ask her.

How can anyone stop what’s happening?

Still, SoYa couldn’t shake the sense that AsaHi’s thoughts were resolute. As if she knew something that he didn’t. As if she knew what needed to be done.

The otherworldly glow flickered in the depths of her soft eyes. AsaHi was completely focused upon the two Arweinydd who were still locked within a battle that SoYa’s senses could not comprehend. There had been a long time of silence where will and whim alone had fought. Finally, when the voice of Zerom came again, it was distorted and mangled, nearly beyond understanding.

“Can you feel it now, Zemi?” the dark eyes burned upon his brother, “This is the real power… the real potential… and you will be the one to open the way to it for me.”

“Open the way to what, Zerom? What have you gotten yourself into?” the Dreigiau growled.

With a startle, SoYa realized that Zemi’s voice was also distorted, sounding nothing like it usually did. AsaHi’s hand gripped his sleeve more tightly, her breath gasping as she, too, responded to the alterations that had begun within the Arweinydd.

“The great Dreigiau… choosing his path in such naivety? I can hardly believe it. In fact, I don’t,” Zerom sneered. “You aren’t fooling anyone here… pretending you were some benevolent higher being watching over the Earthians.”

A snarl broke over Zemi’s face, his form wavering threateningly, almost losing all grasp on physicality. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“And sucking them dry… all the while, you became more powerful,” his sneer grew more twisted. “Well, you were too slow, Zemi. I discovered your secrets. I discovered the power that you commanded… and power even beyond that.”

“You’ve discovered nothing… all you’ve done is take what was already here and tear it to pieces,” the Dreigiau argued, lip curling back.

“Exactly,” Zerom’s eyes flashed, a sudden feverish look shifting over his face. His own motion mocked Zemi’s, his hair streaming behind him in strands of white, grey and black. “You’re a fool, Zemi. Spending so much time pouring your energy and essence into these worthless creatures. They only linger shortly, then pass and die. The real power is found in their death… in the release of their connection to this world. In their destruction.”

Zemi hissed sharply, visibly taking a step back.

“In the Chaos.”

A shiver rushed over SoYa’s body as the final word fell heavily over the room, lingering heaviest upon the Dreigiau. Zemi gave a choked sound, his form crackling and sparking, threatening to fall apart.

“And your fall will be the most delicious of all, Brother,” Zerom’s fevered expression became more and more delirious. One slender hand reached out, dark energies gathering, pulling from the very core of his existence. “If I could gain this much power through the destruction of these worthless, pathetic Earthians… I can’t dream of what will come from you.”

A deep, distorted growl shook through Zemi’s body as he fought, his image wavering into near transparency. The impact of the Chaos knocked the breath out of SoYa, even where he crouched watching the struggle, seeped in a crushing weight of hopelessness.

Zemi was now gathering his own strength, readying himself to make a counteracting assault upon the darkness. But the more energy he gathered, the more transparent his form becaome to SoYa’s eyes. As if pulling up a defense only served to cast the Dreigiau deeper into the fray of Chaos.

But why? If Zemi is trying to fight against it… if he’s not giving into the Chaos… if he wants to strike out against Zerom then-

The words of Aur sprang back to him as his thoughts flew back into action again. The creature had said that the power of two Arweinydd opposing each other would cause great destruction. And that the heart of Chaos lay within the power that was released through the act of destroying.

Zemi’s about to do exactly what Zerom wants him to!

All thought froze in SoYa’s mind as the realization fell upon him.

If Zemi’s energy clashes with Zerom’s, then the destruction will not only start a reaction that will feed Zerom’s power… but also possibly take everything with it!

The Apprentice’s eyes fixed upon the flow of light and darkness that gathered within the hands of the two Arweinydd. And though he felt tiny… though he felt like a nothing, an insignificant Earthian in the vastness of the events unfolding before him, SoYa found himself fighting to stand. His face hardened in determination as he fought the tremors of fear that rippled over him. And he knew what had to be done.

“You can’t do this, Zemi!” SoYa’s voice resounded through the twisted chamber, far louder than he had imagined it could ever be. His feet slipped in the shadow-coated floors as he struggled to push forward against the force of Chaos that shook the stone underneath him.

There was no reaction. Neither Arweinydd seemed to even notice his pale, shivering form only yards away.

“ZEMI!” he cried again, a burst of dark energy cutting his shout short. Doubling over, SoYa reeled, catching himself on his palms and knees. The skin on his face stung from the blast, almost singed, though there was no flame.

The Apprentice watched as the Dreigiau lifted his hands, green slitted eyes fixed upon the form of his brother. The gathering of power swept around Zemi, only moments from release. And Zerom loomed over it all, awaiting fruitation, his twisted sneer gleaming from the shadows.

“NO!”

Shoving upwards with all of his strength, SoYa fought to gain his footing again. The stone floor reeled, ever more violently, as if knowing his intentions. His mind swam with the overwhelming pressure of Chaos and conflicting energy. The Apprentice grit his teeth and bit back the pain as every muscle in his body ached to put one foot in front of the other.

“Zemi, don’t let Zerom trick yo–”

Unhearing, Zemi’s hands dropped. A release of power. Pale white energy leapt viciously from the Dreigiau’s open palms towards the shadowy form of his brother.

NO! ZEMI!

There was no time to think. No other way. As the pulse of brilliant energy flew from the Dreigiau’s hands, SoYa launched himself forward with the strength he could find. Both hands outstretched, he cast a pitiful last-moment attempt at mind-protection before the blow.

The Apprentice threw himself before the Dreigiau. His body crumpled like a discarded piece of parchment as Zemi’s pale-white blast struck him.

A gurgled cry of anguish ripped from SoYa’s mouth. The world flashed through a vision of painful white. His weak mind-warding shattered, sending him recoiling as if he had been struck with an arrow to the brain.

Zemi… don’t…

Though he expected instant death, he found that he could still see, though as if from a distance. The world reeled and spiraled in flashes of light and dark. He could hear the grief stricken sound of AsaHi’s cries.

Then her face hovered above him, looking somehow dim. He reached for her hand, grasping it weakly. SoYa managed to force three final words from his throat before darkness overcame him, “AsaHi… help Zemi…”

As he stepped up to the structure, a thrill of shock rushed over him.

“It felt more real in my dreams…” TsuYa murmured as the door to the chamber fell open to Zazo’s command.

There, stretching before him was the room of his nightmares, which was, much to his surprised a place that was locked deep within the lower vaults of the School itself. How TsuYa had known where to find it, he did not know. But a presence had drawn him there. It was the same presence that haunted his dreams.

And now, the room spread before him, no longer a dream. And the strange, humming mechanisms stood in the center of it all, just as it had always did. The same tubes and globes… the switchboard of lights and buttons and readings.

The scent of decay and clinging death struck his senses, seeming more surreal now than they had in the haze of sleep. The floor crunched under his boots, sticky with dried dark liquid. The air was stale and almost too heavy to breathe. A familiar dread and tingling burn itched at the dark patch of skin on his chest.

It was only when Father peered into the room from over his shoulder that Tsu remembered that it wasn’t his dream… and he wasn’t alone this time. A visible revulsion was written on the winged warrior’s face. Father had a very difficult time getting through the streets and chambers of Nefol… especially whenever they were forced to take on a group of the Marked. Watching his father’s reaction had left TsuYa puzzling at how little these things seemed to bother himself.

Maybe it’s just because I’ve seen this dream so many times. The first time I dreamt of it, I probably felt the same way.

Zazo nudged him into the chamber from behind. -What’s the holdup? This is what we’ve been looking for.-

Biting his tongue against the protest that formed in his throat, TsuYa stumbled forward, one slow step at a time. His eyes fixed upon the globe, a tightness gripping his chest in apprehension.

There’s no telling what’s inside that thing…

“Inside?” Father echoed, obviously picking up the apprehension in his thoughts.

“Father…” TsuYa shot him a disapproving look. If there was one thing he didn’t like, it was people prying into his thoughts… even if it was his own father.

The winged man gave a sheepish look and rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry… Couldn’t help but catch that.”

-So the Sygnus-thing is inside the globe?- Zazo snuffed sharply at the strange mechanism in the center of the room.

“I think so,” TsuYa nodded slowly.

-Then we should break it open!- the she-wolf loped forward with an impending step.

“Wait, no…!” Father reached a hand up. “We don’t know if that might set off something. Or even kill whatever is inside!?”

-The point in finding the Sygnus is to kill it, is it not?- her ears perked forward, gaze deep and penetrating.

“Well…” his words were uncertain.

-This creature will bring the destruction of all that you know, ZenToYa. Don’t forget that.-

Father shook his head slowly. “I know you’re probably right, but Zemi hasn’t told us what we should do once we’ve found it. I don’t want to jump into something I don’t know about.”

-Bah!- Zazo shook her head out in disapproval. -You’re no fun.-

“Forgive me, Lady Zazo…” the winged man grimaced, walking closer to the mechanism.

-Yeah, yeah… Whatever.- she shook out the ruff of fur on the nape of her neck.

For a long moment, Father studied the control board with all of its switches and buttons and lights. A perplexed expression rose on his face, growing more and more uncertain the longer he looked. It was obvious that he had never seen anything quite like it.

Father glanced over at Zazo, “Do you know how to get it to open?”

-We could break it?-

“Aside from breaking it?”

-Nope.-

The winged man gave a long suffering sigh with an appealing look to his son.

Some good she is…

The she-wolf turned with a snuff at the Apprentice. -I heard that.-

“Well if you’d keep your nose where it belongs, you wouldn’t have,” TsuYa grimaced at her. Why he suddenly found himself gutsy enough to back-talk an Arweinydd, he didn’t know. It was just as surprising that she retorted right back.

-My nose is right where it belongs; on my face. Where else would it be?- Zazo’s tail swung back and forth, something akin to teasing.

“Nevermind…”

Father glanced over at them with a frown, “So what do you think we should do?”

Zazo paced around a few steps and finally stated, -Hit the red button.-

“Red button?” the winged man squinted at the board, then back at the she-wolf. “Are you sure?”

-Do you want to stand around all day?-

“No?”

-Then hit the red button.-

“Alright…” Father grimaced, moving his finger to carefully hover over the button on the panel. Then with a quick jab, he clicked it, yanking back again as if afraid of being bitten.

A whooshing hiss suddenly rose around them, the silvery mists churning throughout the chamber as a stream of racing bubbles traced down the long tubes that fed into the globe. A cloud of froth began to pour from the surface of the globe and the clear capsule began retract and folding back upon itself, slowly melting away from the top down.

“It’s opening?” TsuYa gaped, taking a step back.

Father glanced over at Zazo, “The red button… how did you know?”

-Easy,- she told him. -It says “release” underneath it.-

“Oh..?” the winged man turned back to the control panel, eyes brushing over the strange runes that were scripted onto its surface. No doubt they didn’t make any more sense to him than they did to TsuYa.

-Be ready. The Sygnus is released.- Zazo’s warning brought their attention back to the globe.

TsuYa’s throat tightened to match the gripping feeling in his chest.

What’s going to happen now? If this really is a Sygnus, are we doomed?  Or do the Arweinydd know something that we don’t?

The silver mists were now pouring out of the center of the globe as it folded away to its furthest extent. Silence filled the room, only the haunting fingers chilling his skin as the mist brushed past him, swirling across his vision in eerie patterns.

Father slowly crept forward, his wings folded back and hand hovering over his sheathed weapon. Carefully, his eyes probed the mists, searching to find what secret peril the globe held. As he stepped up to the structure, a thrill of shock rushed over him.

“Father… what is it?” TsuYa found his voice nothing more than a rasping whisper.

The winged man said nothing. Instead, he reached up and unclasped the cloak that hung around his shoulders. Then stooping down, cloak within his hands, he gave a soft, uncertain murmur. “Tsu…”

TsuYa drew closer, peering around his father’s side into the bottom half of the globe. His eyes widened as his eyes fell upon what looked to be…

A child…?

A young boy, who looked to be no more than four or five years old, lay cupped in the misty crescent of the globe. His skin was pale to the point of near radiance, his hair wispy and long, the color of molten silver. He did not stir even as Father wrapped the soft blue cloak around his thin body.

-This is the big, terrible Sygnus-thing?- Zazo looked somewhat disappointed. -It figures… leave it to Zemi to overreact.-

A shiver still rippled over TsuYa’s body as he peered down upon the child. The flicker of sound rose to him. A name. And he found himself speaking, “LuShi.”

“What?” Father turned with a quizzical look.

“That’s… his… name…” the Apprentice said quietly. Then he added, “I heard it in my dream.”

-”The Bane”? Oh, how pleasant.- Zazo gave a wolfish grimace. -I say do away with it. Save us all the grief that it’s going to cause.-

TsuYa’s eyes instantly flicked up to his father’s face. There was uncertainty there. And reluctance. It was easy to understand why.

If this kid really will destroy everything… then maybe Zazo is right… we should stop this before it starts.

LuShi made a quiet little sound, peaceful as he curled up within Father’s blue cloak. The mists alighted around him, giving him an air of illumination, the tiny face full of unknowing innocence.

But he’s just a little… kid…

Even TsuYa felt himself choke as he gazed down at the sleeping child. A pang of struggle rippled through his body, the same uncertainty that was mirrored in his father’s stance. And he knew that there would be no death in that room that day.

Face awash with ambivalence, Father reached down and lifted the little boy from the shifting mists. His eyes were heavy with indecision, a choice that he would be unable to make. But there was one thing that was certain.

“We can’t leave this child here… Sygnus or not. As long as Zerom has this boy in his grasp, he will be used against us,” the winged man spoke as he wrapped the child deeper within his cloak, away from the biting cold that would greet them in the outside world. Then clasping LuShi to his chest, he turned and nodded.

Just as TsuYa began to grimace, a shiver ran over the entire chamber. Something deep under his feet began to moan, shifting the ground where he stood and nearly dragging him to his knees. With a startled exclamation, he found himself knocked against the side of the mechanism.

Zazo’s ears flattened back. -That’s not good.-

“What is it?” Father’s eyes rose, peering up in concern.

-The boys are going at it.- she informed them.

As the whole Spire began to shake, trembles of stone and cloth breaking free from above, TsuYa didn’t need a definition on who “the boys” might be.

Zemi… and Zerom are fighting?

-We must move. We can’t stay here. This place might come down on our heads.-

“Let’s go!” Father was already moving towards the exit, double time. He held the boy tightly to his chest as he ran, eyes sharp on the ground ahead of him.

TsuYa followed, clutching the weight of his scythe over one shoulder. He could feel a heavy weariness falling over his body — the result of the battles earlier in the day. His footsteps seemed leaden as he struggled to keep up with the pace of the winged man ahead. And something in his chest had begun to burn…

“Aurhg…!” the Apprentice suddenly choked, doubling over as pain spiked through every limb.

“Tsu!” Father turned on his heel.

But Zazo would have nothing of it. -Fly, ZenToYa! Fly and do not turn back! You must not remain here!-

“Father!” TsuYa croaked, his voice cracking.

The feeling. He knew it. It was the mind of Zerom closing in on him.

He’s found me!

“I can’t! I’m not leaving Tsu!” the winged man protested sharply.

-I will take care of TsuYa. You have to keep going!- fangs snapped sharply, a no-nonsense snarl rising over the she-wolf’s body.

The pain increased, pulsing over the Apprentice’s entire body. And through the fog that rose in his head, he heard himself saying, “Father… go… you’ve got to go!”

-Trust me, ZenToYa!- Zazo prodded.

With a broken sound, Father staggered back a step. Then he turned on his heel and leapt into the streets. His wings unfurled as he took flight, the last glimmer of white in the dead lands.

Father….

TsuYa’s eyes misted over, the image blurring and fading away. The sound of the crumbling School rained down around him. The torture of Zerom’s Chaos ripped through him, scorching his skin like a cold flame.

As he slumped over in the darkness, his last thoughts questioned if he would ever see his father again.

Though his face was handsome and finely-sculpted, there was a glimmer of eager malice behind the dark eyes that left SoYa chilled with revulsion.

“Hedd-ynad!” SoYa exclaimed for the fifth time in the space of ten minutes.

He clung tightly to AsaHi from behind, head ducked down, eyes clamped shut in the howling face of the wind. Their cloaks snapped around them in the frigid air, made all the more cold by the height of their altitude. The motion of the huge white Dragon underneath them was unsettling despite the fact this was the Apprentice’s second time on Dragon back.

I don’t know how AsaHi does it so well! It must have been all the time she spent with the Dragons back in Wyndor.

Then, again, it didn’t help the case that the Dragon they were riding happened to be Zemi himself. And at this point, it was just the three of them… himself, AsaHi and Zemi… striking out on this branch of the mission, heading to infiltrate the Spire of Nefol.

Something in SoYa was waiting and leery that the Dreigiau would change his mind about the promise he had made. Especially since it was Zemi himself that had surprisingly asked for SoYa to be part of this group. Still, at this point, there was no one else there to stop the situation if things got out of hand.

Not Father… or Aunt SaRa… or anyone. Oh… I’m not going to get back to the Islands alive, am I?

It didn’t help that he could sense it… the strange connection that traced back and forth between AsaHi and Zemi. SoYa wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but it was strong… a bonding of understanding, communication and emotion that even his mind powers were at a lack to define. For the very first time, the Apprentice got the sinking feeling that, just maybe, AsaHi had her own feelings for the Dreigiau as well.

What am I thinking? This isn’t supposed to be about me, Zemi and AsaHi!

SoYa shook out his head, righting his gaze towards the horizon again.

This is supposed to be about what’s going on in Nefol. Concentrate, SoYa.

His hands gripped tighter around AsaHi’s waist, face growing grim. Ahead, he could make out the cloud banks as the dipped and seethed, becoming darker and darker the closer to the Spire that they came. A streak of electric violet shot through the sky, as strange, unnatural lightning slashing through the frozen air. Where it struck, SoYa didn’t know… but the resounding crack rattled his entire body. The great white Dragon flew on, undaunted.

This isn’t going to be easy… There’s no telling what we’re going to find when we get home.

If the place could even be considered “home” anymore. The ground that stretched below them was dead and unmoving. Only bare branched trees remained groping up to the skies with claw-like agony. Everywhere he looked, SoYa could sense the overwhelming pressure of anguish and death.

The Chaos… Is this what it looks like?

The Athrylith found no answer or solace in the world below. As the Dragon began banking downwards, SoYa was forced to duck his head again, sheltering his eyes in the folds of his cloak. Only the motion underneath him spoke of their descent. The pounding of his heart within his ears rushed a jittery feeling through the whole of his body which was accented by his shivering against the bitter winds.

Then, there came a jolt. Anticipated, yet unexpected at the same time. And SoYa knew that Zemi had finally touched down. It was the hardest thing for him to pull his arms away from the warmth of AsaHi’s body as the Dreigiau’s huge wings buffered the winds for their dismount. The stiff jolt of sliding from the Dragon’s back onto the slick ground left SoYa stinging for a moment, both hands still upraised to help AsaHi down.

However, she seemed to have very little trouble getting down on her own – in fact, it seemed far easier a feat for her than it had been for him. It was only after she was already on the ground that AsaHi’s sheepish expression spoke of her realization that he had been offering her his help. Playing it off the best that he could, SoYa wrapped his arms around himself and proceeded to rub his shoulders for warmth.

“This way…” Zemi’s gritty voice rose effortlessly above the din of the wind. Suddenly no longer a Dragon, he was standing in the arched doorway on the top platform of the Spire, waving a hand to beckon them forward.

What? When did he turn back into..?

“Come on, SoYa,” AsaHi grabbed him by the hand, following after the Dreigiau in a quick trot.

With no room to argue the point, and not wanting to stand out in the cold any longer than he had to, the Athrylith jogged along side of the girl, his breath misting out in wide clouds of white. This place was somewhat familiar to him – it was the top platform on the roof of the Spire itself. It wasn’t a place that he chose to go very often, especially after Aunt SaRa’s warnings about the dangers of falling from such a height.

TsuYa liked it up here, though.

Why that thought occurred to him, SoYa didn’t know. It was a sudden rush of memory… the image of his brother as a young teen, leaning out upon the uncertain railing, no fear of falling. But then, TsuYa never seemed to be afraid of anything.

Not until now…

SoYa didn’t know the whole story of what was happening to TsuYa. But he hadn’t forgotten the strange dream-vision that he had seen when crossing the Passage in the Cleft…. the dark skin, dark eyed, black-haired image of one who held his brother’s features, yet was so far removed.

And with that image alone, he knew why TsuYa was afraid.

It’s not going to happen! I won’t let this Zerom-Arweinydd take Tsu…

His thoughts scampered from his mind as they passed through the doorway of the Spire into the inner chambers. What had once been a large, vaulted room of great beauty now dripped before him in dark decay. The walls and ceilings had been built of a transparent material, once affording a vibrant view of the entire city from the top of the Spire. But now, the light that spilled into the room from the windows was dimmed by the dark underside of the churning clouds.

The first thing that struck them was the scent of decay, so powerful that the crunch of AsaHi’s step on stone faltered. Her hand tightened around SoYa’s at the same moment that he felt a gasp rip from his throat. Her voice was weak and tiny in the face of the mounting shadows, “Zemi… What is that?”

The Arweinydd did not answer. His back was to them, attention fixed straight ahead.

Part of the room had caved in on the far end, leaving the chamber wide open to the biting winds that ripped at the shredded banners that had once marked the beauty of their civilization. In the center of the room, there seemed to be some sort of make-shift throne. It was a distorted, twisted structure that looked to have been woven from strands of dark, rotting tissue draped over malformed stone and bone.

Loping around the foot of the throne’s dais were things that might have been alive once, but were now so marred by the touch of death and decay, they were far beyond recognition. Some might have been various animals that had once lived in the nearby forests. Some were once people, now twisted into the grey-skinned forms of the Marked.

SoYa felt his whole body responding in sickened repulsion as the countless black-pit eyes turned to regard their approach. AsaHi’s hands gripped at his arm, her hands shaking as another violet bolt of lightning shattered the air around them, striking not far outside.

Sitting upon the throne was a figure so seeped in darkness that the rest of the room seemed light in comparison. His robes were of a similar make to those that the people of Nefol wore, yet the violet cloth was embellished with strange golden symbols that SoYa did not recognize. Symbols that almost seemed to warn his eyes away, a deep dread stirring up in the pit of his stomach.

Though he looked like a man, there was something about him that screamed of monstrosity. Though his face was handsome and finely-sculpted, there was a glimmer of eager malice behind the dark eyes that left SoYa chilled with revulsion. And though a smile crept to his lips upon the sight of the three of them, its intent held no joy or kindness.

Is… it… Zerom?

The man rose from his place on the throne, feet not seeming to touch the ground as he made his way down the dais towards them. His hands rose, outstretched towards Zemi in a gesture that might have been welcoming… if the feeling of hatred had not clung so tightly to every motion that he made.

“Brother-mine,” the voice was cold and dead, sounding much like the icy winds outside. “Welcome be to you.”

A snarl rose within the Dreigiau’s throat, a sound so fierce and unexpected that SoYa was suddenly glad he could not see Zemi’s face. “Zerom, what are you doing?!”

The smooth voice replied, “Awaiting your arrival, of course.”

“You’ve given yourself an Earthian form?” Zemi accused sharply, obviously shaken by the fact. “After you lectured me about the dangers of it?”

A slow smirk crossed his face, eyes burning under the wisps of light and dark hair. “As brilliant as you are, big Brother, I figured there had to have been some merit in.”

“Don’t try to sweet talk me, Zerom,” the Dreigiau slowly strode closer, everything in his stance spoke of contained violence. A crackle of pale energy had begun to snap from the edge of his form.

“So hostile, Zemi?” the other said, lifting one hand calmly. “And after I have waited so very long for you to decide to return to Nefol, too.”

“These people… these lands… this place… was not yours to do this with!” Zemi grated, fangs bared.

“Oh, I see. So you are saying these people belong to you?”

“Yes!” the Dreigiau barked, answering on emotion-torn impulse.

AsaHi took a sharp intake of breath, her hand clutching ever tighter to SoYa’s shoulder. As if the sound was magnified a hundred fold, Zemi’s focus broke, his gaze shooting over to take in the horrified expression on the girl’s face.

“Really?” Zerom’s voice was a sly reminder, prodding the Dreigiau to recognize the meaning of what he had just said.

“Wait… It’s not like that!” Zemi blinked, shaking out his head as if to clear it, “I meant, these people…”

“They are your little pets, aren’t they?”

“No!”

“You just said they belong to you?”

“I said no!” frustration flooded through the words as Zemi bit them off sharply.

As the Dreigiau’s anger grew more pronounced, SoYa felt himself shrinking back. A pressure filled his mind — a power so vast, so terrifyingly overwhelming. He could almost see the pale energy shifting to a looming darkness around Zemi’s outline, a force that felt not too different to that which clung to Zerom.

No! He’s trying to pull Zemi into the Chaos!

Zerom’s dark eyes flickered over to the Apprentice-SoYa’s breath whooshed raggedly from his lungs as he nearly crumpled under the power of the gaze-then returned his focus back upon the Dreigiau.

“Zemi… Zemi… dearest Brother-mine,” the voice was soft, chiding and affectionate as it turned the tide of the conversation away from his own transgressions. Casting the weight fully on the Dreigiau. “Isn’t it time you stop playing these games? We all know very well what it is you have come to this world to seek. We all know that you gather your power from these pitiful Earthian creatures… and that is the only reason you pretend to care about them. Everything you have given to them only turns to benefit you in the end.”

“That’s not the only reason!” Zemi’s voice was strangled in pain and outrage. His balled fists quivered with the flood of emotion, shadows sweeping around him in a wild caper.

“But you cannot deny that what I say is true.”

SoYa felt himself shivering as the presence of darkness grew stronger with each word that Zerom spoke. It seemed to feed on Zemi’s emotion and doubt, for each defense the Dreigiau cast up, Zerom overshadowed the room more and more.

“I…. I’m not…” As if the Chaos itself was contagious, Zemi stumbled back, struggling to come to grips with his own self. Struggling and visibly losing… his fangs seeming more pronounced, face sharpening as it was consumed with vicious rage, his eyes alternating between fiery-brilliant and deathly-dark.

AsaHi’s voice was a quavering sound in SoYa’s ears, “What’s happening to Zemi?!”

“The Chaos…” was all he was able to choke out, eyes wide in terror as the vast power and darkness unfolded before him.

With a slight twist of the wrist, Aur forced the Apprentice to tilt his head back until the bandaged area on his cheek was exposed.

“So you are TsuYa, the son of ZenToYa?” the deep, calm voice intoned across the expanse of the Gathering Room. Now that the welcoming festivities were over, sound seemed to carry and stretch through the open space in an unusual way.

“Yes, that’s right?” TsuYa gave a startled glance up from his thoughts and lingering after-scents of dinner, not having realized that he wasn’t alone. The golden-eyed stranger stood there – a man who had been only quickly introduced to him earlier. All that TsuYa knew was that he went by the name of Aur. “Why?”

Without so much a word of explanation, the large man reached out one hand and took TsuYa firmly by the chin. With a slight twist of the wrist, Aur forced the Apprentice to tilt his head back until the bandaged area on his cheek was exposed.

“Wha.. what do you think you’re doing..?!” TsuYa protested with a sharp snap, trying to dislodge himself from the stranger’s grasp.

At that moment, Father appeared in the room, returning from helping put away the dishes from that night’s big supper. The winged man took one glance at his son’s struggle and quickly demanded, “Tsu… hold on! Don’t!”

TsuYa had already recoiled a good three feet away from the golden-eyed man, crouching low and ready against the assault. As the sound of the voice rang out, the Apprentice turned, giving his father an odd stare, “But he’s…”

“He’s trying to help you, Tsu?” Father glanced between the two of them. There was something about his stance that seemed on edge, as if a lot was riding on whatever was about to take place.

“Help me..?”

Aur just watched him with quiet, hooded eyes.

“What do you mean?” TsuYa turned back to the stranger with a frown.

“I haven’t had much time to explain, I know,” the winged man answered. “But just give me a chance here… let me try?”

The Apprenticed nodded, falling silent, though still stiff and at ill ease. It was true that they had all had very little time to talk after the Dragons’ arrival. There had been a huge reception in the compound with lots of celebration and a big feast that followed. All the things that had lingered upon TsuYa’s mind to discuss were pushed far out of his reach for as long as the festivities had continued. But now that dinner was over, things had begun to quiet down.

Maybe now… I can get some answers.

Father spread his hands toward the stranger with a respectful motion. “I know that you were only quickly introduced before. I’m really sorry about that. As you know, this is Aur. He has traveled back with us from the Spiral where he was originally…”

Why the words trailed off, TsuYa didn’t know. Even Aur was watching the winged man with a hint of curiosity.

“Well, he was…” he paused again and glanced over at the golden-eyed man. “You know, I don’t even really know what you were? We always just called you something like the ‘Creature from the Time Before’… but that sounds awful… I dunno… weird to use as an introduction..?”

TsuYa felt his quick gasp of surprise before he heard it.

The Creature from the Time Before… the Golden Lion that they spoke of? The one that might have the power to…

Shoving all of his racing thoughts aside, the Apprentice stepped forward, hands spreading wide as he asked, “You are the one that Father went to look for, then?”

“And you are the son that he worries greatly about,” Aur gave a slow nod to confirm. Then he added, “ZenToYa has requested that I help you.”

TsuYa’s whole being responded, perking up at the words. Once again, the bubbling sensation of hope rose in his chest. “Can you?”

“Perhaps. But I must be allowed to survey the illness first.”

“Oh..?” he said slowly. One hand inadvertently touched the bandages as he realized what that would include, “You mean… take off my…”

“Yes,” Aur nodded. “I sense infection.”

TsuYa choked at the term.

Infection? Is that what you call it?

“What infection?” Father’s glace had grown concerned, his hands clutching nervously at the back of the nearest dining chair. His eyes were puzzled as they studied his son’s face.

So far, TsuYa had been able to escape explaining the meaning of the bandages on his face. But not for much longer.

Still, if this guy can really do something to fix me… then it’s worth it.

“May I see?” Aur asked politely. Obviously he had gotten the clue that the Apprentice didn’t like to be forced into touchy-feely situations.

TsuYa swallowed and nodded slowly. “Alright… it’s not pretty though…”

“I did not think it would be,” came the grim answer.

TsuYa’s hands shook a little as he began to fumble with the bandages upon his face. Despite the fact that he was often the one to dress his own wound, somehow, exposing it like this made the process far harder to do.

What will Father think of me when he finds out everything that’s been going on? Will he be ashamed of me for being so weak? Already he’s had to put his life on the line to bring me a cure for this mess I made for myself.

The sticky sound of gauze peeling away from skin was loud in his ears. Carefully, he pulled back the white cloth to reveal an underside stained black with frothy, thick liquid. As soon as the bandage was pulled away, the gashes on his cheek began to ooze freely, an uncomfortable wetness that he was compelled to wipe away constantly.

Father’s eyes merely widened, just ever so slightly. Though it was obvious to TsuYa that he was fighting to suppress his real reaction.

“It is a Mark,” Aur stated quietly.

“Mark?” TsuYa’s eyes tore away from his father’s reaction to the grim-faced stranger. “What’s that? What does it mean?”

“When Arweinydd choose to take a servant, that servant is Marked in some way,” Aur explained, the fingers on one hand spreading in represenation. “For example… the marking that Zemi uses is in the eye color of those who serve him.”

“The golden eyes?” TsuYa asked. Then he realized, for the first time, that Aur’s own eyes were golden.

“That is correct.”

“But this Mark…? Aur, what is it?” Father’s voice creaked between his lips, his knuckles growing white where he gripped the chair’s back increasingly tighter.

“I assume it is the Mark that Zerom has placed upon your son,” Aur replied grimly. “And by the nature of the Mark’s manifestation, it would seem that… Chaos… has taken root.”

“Chaos? In Zerom?” the winged man hissed, eyebrows lowering.

“Yes,” the one word seemed to hold the weight of all the fears of the world within it.

TsuYa had no idea what that meant. But the pressure of silence that fell over the room spoke all that needed to be said.

Something big is going on… and it has to do with Zerom.

It took a while before Father aligned his thoughts well enough to speak. When he did, he asked, “Tsu, how did you get this Mark? You didn’t leave the city, did you?”

“No… I didn’t!” the Apprentice spoke up quickly, shaking his head.

“Then, what happened?”

His glance flickered back and forth between Father and Aur, thoughts churning through his head.

I wonder… if I should tell them about what I saw in my dreams? I don’t know if it was real or not. I’m not even sure what I did see. But maybe it is important.

TsuYa took in a deep breath and began to speak. At first, it came slowly, difficultly. The very thing he had been fighting so hard to keep secret was elusively complicated for him to finally put to words. He told them as much as he knew about the nightmare world… and of the things he saw there… of Zerom… and eventually of the thing in the globe that Zerom had called his own son.

That was the point where Aur stopped him, “Did you say… son of Zerom?”

“That’s what he called it. But I don’t really know how it could be his actual son – I mean, it was being developed in this glowing globe,” TsuYa mimed the shape of the globe with his hands.

After a moment, Aur turned to look at Father. His voice was graver than ever, “Do you realize, ZenToYa, what this may mean to us?”

Father shook his head, giving the golden-eyed man his full attention.

“If there really is a creature, even created, that is the son of Zerom…” he paused before he continued, “We may well have the creation of a Sygnus on our hands. Along with the possibility of a Chaos-touched Arweinydd.”

“Hedd-ynad…” the winged man whispered.

“I had thought that it was Zemi who would bring such a threat,” Aur intoned.

They talk like I’m not even here in the room…

TsuYa frowned, digging at the floor with the toe of his boot, “Well, like I said, it was just in my dreams. So I don’t really know how real any of it is.”

“That Mark on your cheek is real enough,” Aur pointed out. “This is not something to take lightly, even if it was just a dream.”

“What should we do?” Father turned and asked. His tone gave the impression that this situation was far too large for him to handle on his own. And that in itself gave TsuYa shivers.

“This… is not what I would normally suggest. But I really do not see a way around it,” the golden-eyed man grimaced. “I believe we should inform Zemi of this, right away. As much as I do not support the idea of Arweinydd fighting Arweinydd… and as unstable as either of the two may be… the truth is that it will take a power such as Zemi’s to combat something of this magnitude.”

Father gave a long, ragged sigh, one hand rubbing at his chin. Then he turned to look at TsuYa, “We need you to come with us, to Zemi… He needs to hear about everything you can remember from your dreams.”

The Apprentice closed his mouth with a quick nod, a sudden overwhelming feeling rising in the pit of his stomach. One line of thought echoed and repeated through his mind as he watched the other two men make their way out of the Gathering Room.

What have I gotten myself into?

The dim silence offered him no answer. There was nothing else that TsuYa could do except follow them… and move forward. Approaching the dark unknown one step at a time.

As if in response to the surprised reaction, the Dreigiau’s majestic head lowered, drawing nearer to the ledge where SoYa stood.

“Don’t go that way!” the small green Dragon squeaked as SoYa walked by. The creature was scuttling the opposite way, finned ears pinned back against his skull.

“Why?” the Apprentice asked, stopping in his tracks.

After the long talk with Aur and all the heavy, doomful things that had been revealed, SoYa needed a nice long walk. And so he had taken to exploring the caverns on his own, lost to his thoughts. Thinking that he had been going some place out of the way, it was a surprise to see one of the Dragons so far in the winding caves of the mountains.

“Because–” the Green began, only to be cut off in mid-word.

SoYa almost fell to his knees as a terrible, thunderous roar suddenly shook the walls of the caves. Streaming trails of white stone began to rain down from above where it had been dislodged and shaken by the impact of the sound.

“Lord Zemi is seriously pissed off!” the Dragon finished with a hiss. He began making his way quickly off in the other direction.

One hand braced against the wall, SoYa watched the tail vanish around the corner of the hall. His body still shook from the reverberation of the roar. His mind reeled as he attempted to hold his balance.

That was… Zemi…?

The Apprentice swallowed down the thick lump of anxiety that had caught in the back of his throat. After all the talk of how the forces of Chaos and Creation fought to influence the powers of the Arweinydd, SoYa certainly did not want to tangled with Zemi. Especially since he wasn’t totally certain that the Dreigiau wouldn’t decide to go back on his word.

Now he’s had some time to think about the situation.

The hall was strangely silent. SoYa backstepped as quietly as he could. Part of him hoped that he could vacate the area while his presence was still unnoticed.

Still, I wonder what Zemi’s doing in the back corner of the caves…

A low groan rattled the air. A deep, gritty voice uttered a low cadence in a language that SoYa was unfamiliar with. Great anger and bitterness flowed from the sharp, biting sounds. The words rose up, growing increasingly louder. The Apprentice was forced to press his hands over his ears as his whole being was rattled by the dreadful voice.

And yet, through the wave of anger, SoYa could sense something more. A sharp pang of distress. A sense of desperation and struggle. A lost, lonely sense of hopelessness.

Zemi’s not supposed to feel these sorts of emotions… is he?

After all, Zemi was Arweinydd. A creature far greater than anything that the Earthians could ever be. A creature that held so much incredible knowledge and power. The idea that Zemi could come close to expressing emotions of inner-turmoil and confusion was almost too impossible for SoYa to grasp. Unless…

Maybe the Arweinydd are not all that different from the Earthians in the end.

But that, too, seemed far too unlikely.

Still, SoYa found himself creeping closer towards the overwhelming presence rather than turning back towards the main hall. Something within him couldn’t turn away from the knowledge of the Dreigiau’s pain.

Because I’m the one that’s hurt him…

Though his legs felt watery with fear, he forced himself forward into the cavern. As the Apprentice rounded the corner, he felt his foot slip. For one tottering moment, SoYa found himself staring dizzily into the endless brink of a vast, gaping cavern. Scrabbling in desperation, he clasped the stone of the wall. Hand over hand, he managed to pull himself up, rasping with panic.

There’s some kind of pit here?

Once he had regained his composure, SoYa felt a shiver race over his body. A hissing breath escaped his lips as he stared into the yawning darkness ahead. Something tightened in his chest as a chill gripped his very soul. It was hard to believe that anywhere within Wyndor could feel so foreboding and forsaken.

Something massive was there, coiling and rustling against the stone walls. Even the enormity of the cavern seemed hardly large enough to contain the presence that seethed within it. And though the Apprentice couldn’t make out anything within the darkness, his mind-senses told him that the source of the havoc was there.

“Lord Zemi?” SoYa’s voice was tiny in the face of the thick curtain of darkness. It felt as if he was so small that nothing would notice of so trivial a sound.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Two slits of burning blue-green flashed to life far above his head. It took him a moment to realize the huge lights were eyes. The eyes of the Dreigiau himself.

“Hedd-ynad!” SoYa yelped.

He stumbled back as raw power jolted through his entire body. Within the grip of the vast gaze, his limbs grew stiff with fear. And though SoYa had been wary of the Arweinydd in the past, this time it was different. More desperate. More terrifying.

Something’s wrong! It hardly feels like Zemi at all!

The Apprentice’s thoughts reeled back to Aur’s words. How Chaos sought for control of the Dreigiau’s spirit just as strongly as Creation did. Then the dooming realization fell upon him.

Could losing AsaHi be the thing to tip Zemi’s balance into Chaos’ favor?

The Dreigiau’s tremendous voice rushed down on him from above. It pulsed straight into the Apprentice’s mind, so overpowering that SoYa stumbled back, clutching at his head with a groan.

-You know of Chaos? How can that be?-

The Apprentice found himself unable to respond, doing everything he could to simply remain standing. In desperation, his thoughts fluttered back to the mind-training that his father had forced upon him. At the time, the training had seemed painful and harsh. But in that moment, it all came together. And SoYa knew exactly what Father had been trying to teach him… and why.

Sweat beading on his brow, SoYa found himself reaching, straining, working to draw up his own strength and defenses. Ponderously, he found himself able to withstand… to lift his head… and gather himself again.

Straightening, SoYa lifted his head to face the Dreigiau.

Then it is true that you are fighting against the Chaos.

-Did I say that?-

The voice within his mind grew in intensity. Miraculously, SoYa found himself able to stand his ground and respond with clear earnestness.

No, you didn’t say it. But I can feel it.

Silence fell over the chamber as the pressure within SoYa’s mind slowly drained away, releasing him. The two eyes close like stars winking out. And the Apprentice wondered if maybe he had said the wrong thing.

When the Dreigiau’s voice returned, it was calmer. Less vicious. More controlled.

-You must not tell anyone what you have seen here today.-

SoYa’s mouth opened as he sensed a note of deep regret within the words. As if the Dreigiau wished to apologize, but did not know how.

“Zemi?” the Apprentice called into the darkness. Hoping that the Arweinydd would not leave.

Not that I know what to do about all this. But at least, I can try…

“Are you so certain you want to?” The two eyes opened once more, no longer slitted, but gentle flowing orbs of brilliant light. As the shadows began to part, SoYa could make out the glimmering white form of the enormous Dragon curled up within the cave.

Wh-oah!

Alarmed, the Apprentice stepped back. He had never seen a creature so huge so close… to simply believe that the massive Dragon could actually exist boggled his mind. As if in response to the surprised reaction, the Dreigiau’s majestic head lowered, drawing nearer to the ledge where SoYa stood. The Apprentice’s alarm began to fade away as he was able to make out the creature’s expression… one of sorrow… regret… and despair.

“Lord Zemi…” one hand raised, an action of instinct. A motion of sympathy. “I know I’m probably the wrong one to ask this but… how… can I help?”

The great chin rested silently upon the ledge, the Dreigiau bringing himself to the Apprentice’s eye-level. His gritty voice spoke volumes, “I am not sure that anyone can help me, young SoYa.”

The Apprentice jerked his head up, eyes widening. It was the first time he had ever heard the Arweinydd speak of something as being impossible. “You can’t say that, Zemi! I… I may not know much about what is going on here but if you give into the Chaos without a fight… you know what will happen, right?”

“I do,” the Dreigiau intoned softly. “I do know… and yet, I did not listen to the warnings.”

“You didn’t have so much trouble with the Chaos until now, did you?” SoYa asked, feeling a twinge of guilt.

“Things… have changed since I have spent time here among the Earthians.” There was heaviness in his voice that was so unlike the powerful, self-assured Dreigiau whom the Apprentice had always known. “I guess, things have even changed within me. I didn’t think that was possible. But I was wrong.”

Is it because of his feelings for AsaHi… because Zemi chose to give her up to me? Is it causing him to fall into the Chaos? Is it because of me that people might be in danger?

The large finned ears perked forward just a bit, the bright eyes regarding him. Then a low rumbling rose in the white Dragon’s throat. “No… No, it’s not because of you. This has been something afflicting me far longer than that.”

“But everything that’s happening between us doesn’t help,” SoYa slumped, his face torn.

“SoYa,” Zemi’s head lifted, peering at him intently, “My own choices have led me to where I am today.”

SoYa found himself looking down at his feet. “Maybe. But I…”

“But you…?”

“I’m just…” SoYa shook his head, struggling, “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” Zemi seemed surprised.

“Yeah.”

“For what?”

“Because I can sense how much this hurts you. I feel like I’ve done something to cause it. And I don’t know if there’s something I can do to make it better for you,” SoYa gave a pained look. “You are my Patron Guide and I am your Dragon Apprentice. It is my duty to–”

“SoYa,” the Arweinydd interrupted quickly. “Don’t go there.”

The Apprentice shut his mouth with a click. He cast an appealing glance up at the huge white Dragon, the creature he was raised to serve. The one whose teachings he had followed since he was young enough to remember. The great power that had given his people wondrous knowledge and abilities.  It was hard to think of him as anything beyond the Patron Guide… beyond Lord Zemi.

And yet, seeing Zemi now, it was hard to still think of him as the same Lord Zemi that SoYa had always known.

“I just want…” the Apprentice’s hands spread, groping for the way to express it.

I don’t want you and our world torn by Chaos. How selfish it would be of me…

“I want to help you.” Not knowing anything else to say, SoYa bowed his head.

A new, rising emotion was spreading through his chest. To his surprise, SoYa found it to be the same longing that he felt when he saw someone else torn down in distress. It was not just the wish of a servant trying to appease the will of the Dreigiau. But an honest feeling of sympathy for someone that he truly cared about.

“I…” Zemi paused, the air around them shifting, somehow growing lighter. As if the Arweinydd could sense SoYa’s feelings, the words that followed were heartfelt and grateful. “I know you do.”

“How?”

The great white head rose up, peering down at his Apprentice in a strange way — like Zemi was seeing him for the very first time. “You already have.”

“I have?” When SoYa lifted his face again, he found himself staggeringly alone.