Chapter 13: Human

This chapter is the end of the Dragon arc.  It was a long time coming, mostly because while the action was solid, you never realize how hackneyed or silly some dialogue can be until you really re-read it.  So, a few extra scenes near the start were added, dialogue was tweaked, and there were some changes to character motivations.  All in all, I like how it came out.  I do worry a bit about some of the scenes in my book though.  Once or twice, I try and play against expectations, so it either seems like a cop out or it will be a bit too predictable, just because you never know what to expect.  There is a reason for that, believe me, though you'll have to wait till the second book if you want to see it.  Can't give it all away in the first one, right?  I worry that near the end, people are gonna call bull crap on me...just wait, it all pays off, I promise.  This isn't a meat grinder story where everyone dies, but the characters aren't immortal either.  I have plans.  Anyway, with this, we're over 1/4 of the way through the book.

Hope everyone enjoys the chapter.

Chapter 13: Human

Mina saw the flames the Dragons had belched at Deminos crash into an invisible wall.  The pentagram which had formed around Deminos's feet slowly expanded, pushing the fire backwards until the Dragons retreated to a safe distance.  An emblem resembling a pentagram with three grotesque heads bearing crowns in the center appeared on the surface of Deminos's arm and his eyes flashed with purple light.  Black crags covered half his face and spread along his body at a slow, but steady pace.

Deminos's blackened arm let out an earsplitting screech as he ran his left hand over it.  "ASMODE-mpphh!"  Deminos's eyes widened as a skeletal hand materialized in front of him and clamped down on his mouth.  Another hand appeared and gripped his arm. 

In the blink of an eye, the pentagram around Deminos's feet shattered and was replaced by a circle of white light.  In the center of the circle were three emblems resembling a halo, a Dragon's head, and a five sided star respectively.  Glowing silver chains slithered out of the edge of the circle, crisscrossing together to form arcane characters throughout the circle, before engulfing the three emblems.  Once the three emblems had been ensnared, the chains climbed up Deminos's legs and wrapped around his blackened arm.  His skin rose and fell, shrieking in agony as it did, but the chains smothered its wails and dragged Deminos to his knees.  The leathery skin and black crags which had covered much of his face and upper body slowly receded into his arm and he collapsed on the ground, panting and wheezing.

"What the..." Celine grunted. 

The air around Deminos distorted briefly and a skeletal figure clad in a hooded black cloak appeared out of thin air in front of them.  The figure removed his left hand from Deminos's mouth, but kept his right hand locked around Deminos's wrist.

"A...Aeon?!" Mina exclaimed.

The lich seemed to be panting, and green flames spilled out of his eye sockets, giving him an otherworldly look.  Seeing that Deminos had been subdued, the Dragons behind them breathed a fresh wave of fire at the five of them.  However, Aeon's black cloak lengthened and curved around the five of them.  The fire hit Aeon full on, but when the cloth had been burned away, only a gigantic shield of ice remained, protecting Mina and the others from the flames.  What remained of Aeon's cloak slowly reformed around him as he touched his left index finger to Deminos's arm.

"He...he just appeared out of nowhere!" Daryl gasped, her mouth dropping open in shock.  Feeling her friends' grips loosen, Mina wriggled free of their grasp and made her way over to Aeon and Deminos.  It appeared as if the lich was rapidly chanting under his breath.

When Mina was close enough to touch Aeon, the lich barked, "Stay back!" without taking his eyes off Deminos's arm. 

Using his left hand, Aeon etched sigils of light onto Deminos's blackened skin while the chains from the circle below him held the conjurer in place.  Keeping her distance, Mina glanced over at Deminos's arm.  Five and six sided stars, halos, a circle of chains, and various other emblems were being imprinted upon the black skin.  When they realized what was happening, Daryl and Celine joined Mina in watching the lich meticulously cover Deminos's blackened arm with the glowing white emblems.  After what seemed like hours, the chains binding Deminos's arm slithered back into the circle and it vanished.  Aeon released Deminos and rested his spine against the ice shield behind him.

Blinking furiously, Deminos looked up at the ice shield in front of him, then back at Mina, Celine, and Daryl, before finally resting his gaze on his arm, which shone with dozens of new white sigils.

" Are you alright, Deminos?" Mina murmured, carefully putting her hand on his shoulder.

Clenching and unclenching his fingers experimentally, Deminos slowly nodded.  "Y-yeah...I'm okay.  I..."

"What in the Goetian hells was that?!" Celine exclaimed.

"That was holy magic..." Daryl whispered, glancing over at Aeon.  "The strongest I've ever seen.  How...how did you-"

"There is no time to explain," Aeon grunted, forcing himself to rise into the air.  Mina saw him put his hand against the shield of ice to keep him steady.  Underneath the black hood of his cloak, the flames in Aeon's eye sockets still burned brightly, but he gasped for air as if he were a man who had run a full day without resting.  Though he had no lungs within his rib cage, the lich's body shuddered and trembled with each breath.  "Are you all unharmed?" Aeon murmured, regaining his composure and folding his hands behind his back.

"T-Tired, but fine," Daryl stuttered.

"Bit bruised here and there," Celine smirked and held her shoulder.

"We're okay," Mina smiled at the lich, who turned his gaze towards Deminos.

"I...Aeon...I'm sorry, I never-" Tears welled up in Deminos's eyes as he gripped his blackened wrist.  "This is all my-"

"Do not speak," Aeon raised his hand to silence Deminos.  "If you are unhurt then that is enough."  Turning around, Aeon floated through the frozen shield as if it were water and appeared on the other side as the six remaining Dragons regrouped around him.  "Children of Shanadia, hear me," Aeon muttered, gesturing towards Mina and the others behind the clear, crystalline shield, "I will say this only once.  These are my comrades.  I do not care what your quarrel with them may be.  If you continue to attack them, I will cut you down."  He spoke calmly and matter-of-factly, however the weight behind Aeon's words were apparent.  For the first time, the Dragons seemed afraid and took several steps back.

            "Frozen Shade," one of the Dragons rumbled, "These children are thieves.  They have stolen from us and attacked our comrades with Goetians and magic.  They must be punished!"

"The All-father disagrees," Aeon said, floating forward and forcing the Dragons to back away even further.  "He is on his way down here at this very moment.  We will settle things and if there is a punishment, I shall take it."

"But-!"

"These are not alchemists, poachers, or would-be-heroes seeking your lives!" Aeon snarled, the green flames in his eye sockets glowing brilliantly.  "They are children, deposited here by an accident!  Were you to awaken in a human or Vey city, would you wish to be treated as they have been?!"

The Dragons hung their heads.  "It is the law.  We were only doing as we have been taught."

Turning his back to them, Aeon added, "Shanadia gave you the power to think and the power to choose.  So long as you do neither, you will remain little more than hatchlings."

The Dragons ground their teeth at Aeon, as he floated back towards his frozen shield.  Trembling, one of the Dragons stepped forward and let out a roar.  "Then I choose to punish you for insults!"  Flames belched out of its mouth and headed straight for Aeon.

Ice formed around Aeon's left hand and with one quick movement, he spun around and batted the flames aside with his frozen arm.  Reeling back with his left arm, Aeon swept it across the battlefield in front of him.  A frigid mist burst out of Aeon's cloak and wafted over the Dragons.  A single roar escaped the mist before silence overtook the mountain once again.

As the mist began to dissipate, Mina saw that as far up as she could see, the ground was covered in ice, which sparkled whenever the sun peeked out through the clouds.  The Dragons in front of Aeon had been frozen solid.  Ice coated their bodies and the only part of them which could move was their eyes, which darted about rapidly.

"I will spare your lives," Aeon muttered, taking a deep breath and floating into the ice shield, "Since I understand how impulsive children can be."

When Aeon appeared on the other side of the wall of ice, Mina and the others were smiling at him in wide eyed awe.  "Woah..." Celine whispered.  "You took them down like it was nothing!"

"I knew you could do it, Aeon!" Mina laughed and skipped over to the lich.

Aeon nodded and patted Mina on the shoulder before helping Deminos to his feet.  "See to them, Deminos.  I am depending on you."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Deminos stammered as he stumbled to his feet, glancing from Aeon to his blackened arm.

"Are you sending us home?!" Daryl exclaimed, wiping at her bleary, red, eyes.

Nodding, Aeon added, "I must stay behind and explain things to the All-father.  See that the girls return to Gesthal safely."  Leaving Deminos with his mouth hanging agape, Aeon floated away from the four teenagers and rested his back against the frozen barrier.

"Aeon?" Mina mumbled, leaning against the ice next to the lich.  "Ummm...I'm...I'm really sorry about all this."

"Hmm?" Aeon turned his gaze to look at her.

Glancing over at Deminos, who had fixed his eyes on her, Mina added, "It was because of us that all this happened."

"No!  That's-" Deminos started to say, but Celine put a hand on his shoulder and nodded.

"Yeah.  There was an accident with the relay and we all got sent here."

Glancing from Mina to Celine, Daryl swallowed hard and nodded.  "Th-that's right," she choked out.

"You three make for poor liars," Aeon sighed, putting his hand on Mina's shoulder and ushering her back over to the others.

"But we're not-" Mina started to say, but Aeon held a finger to her lips. 

"The reason is irrelevant.  At this point, all that matters is that you are safe," Aeon said, floating back a few paces and holding out his hand, palm down.  A blue circle with a six sided star in the center appeared around the four of them.  Runes slowly filled the circle and the star.  "It is time to go," Aeon said, as the edge of the circle began to rise around Mina and the others.  Reaching into the sky, the blue circle formed a cerulean tunnel around them.  However,  halfway into the sky, the walls of the tunnel ceased moving.

"What?"  Daryl mumbled, looking around at her friends.  "Wh-what's happening?!"

"The...the field is being disrupted," Deminos stammered, as the walls around them began to ripple violently.

"But he beat all the Dragons!" Celine exclaimed. 

The walls cracked and the circle underneath them began to waver.  Seconds ticked by and the cracks deepened until the walls shattered around them.  The blue circle stretched and distorted until it dissipated into thin air.  When the blue light died down, Mina and the others saw that they had not moved an inch.

"What happened, Aeon?" Mina mumbled, taking one step forward and stopping as the ground underneath her began to tremble. 

The mountain shook with such intensity that Mina and the others were unable to retain their footing and hugged the ground for dear life.  The ice which had imprisoned the six Dragons in front of them cracked and they shook themselves free.  However, rather than continuing their attack, the six Dragons took to the skies and fled up the mountain.  When they had departed, a column of flame large enough to engulf an entire valley burst out of the rock wall further up the mountain.  The instant it touched Aeon's ice shield, the wall of ice cracked and began to melt.

As the heat formed a weight so heavy that Mina could feel it pressing down on her, she grasped her heart and tried not to scream.  Daryl and Celine huddled around her and Deminos raised his hand.  Water half heartedly poured out of his palm and wrapped around them, but no sooner had it appeared, than it evaporated.

Just before the flames could wash over them, however, Aeon darted over to Mina and the others and held his hands out to either side of him, as ice enveloped his right hand and white light covered his left.  A dome of silvery light formed around the five of them and ice wrapped itself around the dome, completely boxing them in.  No sooner had Aeon finished the dome than the flames melted what remained of his first shield and crashed over them.  From within the dome of ice, Mina watched in wide eyed horror as the ground outside melted from the intense heat, and pools of molten rock formed all around them.  Aeon pressed his hands against the dome of ice and any cracks that appeared were mended almost immediately.  Once a few seconds had passed, the  flames died down and Aeon dropped to the ground, breathing hard and scowling out at the molten wasteland before them.

"Wh-what was that?!" Celine exclaimed, touching the tips of her ears before placing a hand over her heart.

"Rudra," Aeon muttered, rising off the ground and taking several deep breathes.

"R-Rudra?" Mina repeated the name, trying to keep her heart from exploding as she surveyed the fiery wasteland the area around her had been reduced to.

"He is one of the eldest living Dragons," Aeon muttered, "And taught the art of magic to the people of Serano, alongside his father and two siblings."

"One of the first Dragons..." Deminos mused, "Wh-where is he?!"

"He dwells within the mountain range," Aeon replied.  "Even I do not know how massive he is."

"Well...why's he attacking us?!" Daryl yelled, fresh tears blossoming in her eyes.  "We...we were leaving!  We'd almost gone home!"

Wrapping her arms around the sobbing Daryl, Mina glanced up at Aeon.  "So, what do we do now?" she murmured, rubbing Daryl on the back.

"You four must stay within this dome," Aeon replied.  "I have crafted it from my strongest ice.  It will withstand even Rudra's assault for a time."

"What about you?" Celine murmured from her spot on the ground.  "You're not going to fight him, are you?"

Aeon nodded.  "Yes.  I must stall for time until the All-father gets here."

"But-!" Mina started to say before hanging her head.  "Aeon...you're-"

"Take me with you!" Deminos interrupted, jumping to his feet.  "I...I've got a little energy left and I'm sure Charybdis has healed up enough to fight!  Let me-"

"I gave you a job, Deminos," Aeon cut him off and put his bony hand on the brunette teen's shoulder.  "I told you to make sure the girls return to Gesthal safely."  Aeon paused for a moment and the flames in his eyes sockets sparkled brilliantly off the walls of their frozen sanctuary.  "Protect them."

Swallowing hard, Deminos nodded.  "R-right!  I won't let you down."

"A-Aeon!" Mina called, as the lich headed towards the front of the dome.  "Be careful!"

The lich nodded before passing through the ice.  Through the clear walls, Mina and the others saw him float over the molten rock, which was slowly starting to cool and harden.  "I know you are watching, Rudra.  Come out," Aeon yelled.

Another tremor shot through the mountain before an entire rock face crumbled away, revealing a wall of giant, crimson scales.  The scales began to rustle and move.  Four cerulean eyes, more brilliant than the purest sapphires and each as big as a mansion, appeared in the middle of the wall.  Cracks appeared all around the four eyes, spreading through the mountain, and with a ponderous effort, a face broke free from the rock.  The face looked as if it belonged to a Dragon.  However dozens of horns adorned the head and the crimson scales shone so brightly that they stained the clouds and the mountain a dull shade of red.  Two plumes of smoke escaped the creature's nostrils and he opened his elongated mouth before letting out a brief yawn. 

Mina suppressed a gasp at the size of the beast's head.  It looked to her as if the whole of Gesthal could fit into his mouth, with room to spare.  "Th-that's Rudra?!" she squealed, glancing around at her equally dumbfounded friends.

The Dragon's four eyes seemed to focus on Aeon and  the small dome of ice behind him before his teeth formed into a smile.  "Well met, Aeon," Rudra murmured, the intensity of his voice shaking the ground.  "I almost had you."

Glancing up at the impossibly large Dragon, Aeon muttered, "What is the meaning of this, Rudra?"

"Just a bit of entertainment," Rudra stifled another yawn and flashed Aeon a toothy grin.  "I was sleeping when your children started causing a ruckus.  It was good sport, watching them run for their lives.  But now that father is on his way, the time for excitement is nearly up.  So..." the Dragon opened his mouth and Mina saw something orangish-red start to rise from deep within his gullet.

"Rudra, wait!  My comrades-" Aeon started to say, but was cut off by the sound of a river of lava surging out of Rudra's mouth, headed straight for Aeon and the others.  

Throwing up both hands, Aeon’s body became engulfed in white light.  Crossing his arms, the lich jutted his ring and index fingers upwards and sheet after sheet of rock and ice sprang up in front of him.  The rampart of ice and stone held the lava back for only a few seconds before the lava burned through it and crashed into Aeon's outstretched hands.  Instead of engulfing him, the lava was held back by the white light surrounding Aeon's body.  He tried to push the raging river of molten rock away, but after a few seconds, the light began to flicker and eventually disappeared.  With nothing left to protect him from the lava, Aeon was swallowed whole by the river of flames.

 “AEON!” Mina and Deminos screamed together when he disappeared beneath the lava.

“Oh goddess!” Daryl knelt down, putting her hands over her head as the lava careened towards their frozen sanctuary.

Pulling Mina and Deminos away from the edge of the dome, Celine forced them to the ground next to Daryl as the liquid inferno crashed over them  The dome of ice sizzled and cracked, but did not break.  The lava slowed after colliding with it and began to cool, covering Deminos and the girls in a prison of stone.  What remained of the lava after it had cooled poured into the crevasse behind them.

With the dome covered in stone, darkness overtook Mina and the others.  A tiny light flickered to life in Daryl's hand, though she was breathing so erratically that it seemed as if the light might fizzle out at any moment.

“What now?” Celine panted, letting the others lift their heads and glance around their stony prison.

“I…I don’t know,” Deminos mumbled, looking down at the despondent Mina, her eyes still wide with shock.  "I knew Aeon wasn't immortal, but I...I've never seen THAT happen to him."

"He...he died for us..." Mina wiped at her moist eyes.  Raising her fist into the air, she beat the rocky soil.  "Dammit!  I...we should have done something!  Anything!"

"What could we have done against something that big though?" Daryl sighed, resting her back against one of the dome's walls, as a few stray tears trickled down her cheeks.  "Even if we had magic to use-"

"Magic..." Mina mused and looked up.  "Huh?"

"What's wrong?" Celine put her arm around Mina's shoulder and followed her eyes.  "Hey!  Do you see that?!"

Deminos and Daryl glanced in their direction.  There was a line of white light that traced its way over the inside of the dome before vanishing into the cooled lava in front of it.   "It's...a light?" Daryl mumbled, as her own sphere of light fizzled out.

"Could it be..." Deminos put his hand against the wall of the dome just as the sound of a sword being unsheathed reached their ears. 

The teen fell backwards as a man's scream and the hum of metal on rock rang around them.  A flash of light burst through the center of the dome, but stopped short of cutting it in half.  It did, however, split the rock which was piled on top of the dome asunder.  As the rock fell away, the four of them clambered towards the front of the dome.  Through the crystal clear walls, they saw a figure standing amidst the broken rocks.

As light spilled back into their frozen sanctuary, Mina and the others saw that the figure was a well muscled, middle aged man garbed in a light blue breastplate with a set of matching greaves fitted over his burlap pants.  Turning to Mina and the others, he nodded, a look of grim consternation adorning his face.  “Is everyone alright in there?” he called.

“Wha-” Mina barely managed a gasp.  The man's skin was tinged a deep blue, as though he were suffering from extreme frostbite, and ice hung from his flesh and armor.  His face might have been somewhat handsome, had it not been so covered in scars.

Brushing short blue hair out of his emerald green eyes, the man turned away from them.  “I bet you’re all pretty confused right about now, huh?  Well, I don’t have time to explain.  Sorry,” he callously muttered, hefting a large, double edged broadsword over his shoulder.  The blade was deep blue and ringed with frost.  Wielding it as if it weighed no more than a feather, the man headed towards Rudra.

Twisting out of the mountain to reveal a long, scaly neck, Rudra's head swayed back and forth, its eyes fixed on the blue skinned man.  "That's a good look for you, Aeon," Rudra snorted.

"Aeon?!" Mina squealed.

"Rudra!" Aeon barked.  "That's enough!  My comrades aren't involved in this, so leave them alone!"

"We all make choices, Aeon," Rudra murmured.  "And in the end, we must answer for those choices.  Your children chose to steal, so I choose to punish them.  Besides...it's been years since I got a chance to stretch and have a bit of fun.  If you want me to reverse my decision...then entertain me."  The Dragon winked at Aeon and four beams of light shot out of his eyes.

Flipping his blade around with speed that belied its size, Aeon repelled the beams off the flat of his sword, leaving jagged cuts in the rocks where the beams were deflected.  He moved with ease, almost as if he were dancing to a familiar tune.  Eventually, Rudra blinked and the light's vanished.  When they did, Aeon slashed out with his sword, sending a curved wave of ice headed straight for Rudra.  It bounced off his scales, but the Dragon blinked and sneezed when a few chunks of ice fell into his nostrils.

Back in the dome, everyone was transfixed by the display, save for Mina, who was prodding Deminos in the side and pulling on his left arm.  "Hey!  Hey!  HEY!"

"Hmmm?" Deminos glanced down at her, as if waking from a trance.

"Is that...is that really Aeon?" Mina mumbled, glancing over at the blue skinned man as he cleaved through the whirlwind Rudra's sneeze had kicked up.  "He's so...different."

"I've only seen him like this once," Deminos said, peeking down at his arm and clenching his hand into a fist.  "Far as I know, this is what he really looks like."

"You gonna explain what that means?" Celine snorted, looking from Aeon to Deminos.

"I-I don't know!" Deminos stammered, shrinking under her stare.  "It's a lich thing!"

"He looks human," Daryl mused.  "I...I thought liches were undead, like Teythens or those...things...the necromancer's conjured up."

"It doesn't matter what he is!  Aeon's still Aeon," Mina said, banging her fist on the wall of the ice dome.  "Aeon!  You can do it!  I believe in you!" she called out.

The blue skinned swordsman, glanced back at her and flashed Mina a smile.  Rudra chuckled and the mountain seemed to rumble with him.  "You are lucky to have comrades who believe in you,"  The Dragon glared down at Aeon, "Even though you're almost out of power."

Aeon raised his sword, but instead of striking at Rudra, Mina saw him turn towards her and the others inside the ice dome.  His eyes widened and Aeon gripped his sword with both hands.  “Dammit, Rudra!” he yelled, sprinting over to the dome.

The mountain began to rumble again and the cooled lava which had filled the crevasse behind Mina and the others began to crack.  Four giant eyes, glowing redder than any ruby, burst out of the ground and stared at them.  A second head, matching Rudra's first, burst out of the area of mountain behind the ice dome and leered at Mina and the others for a moment.  Its mouth twisted into a smile before opening wide to reveal a fireball forming in its gullet.

Mina and the others only had a moment to gasp in horror before Rudra’s second head spat the fireball at them.  Sprinting up the slick walls of the dome, Aeon raised his sword and slashed straight down the middle of the churning mass of flames.  Forcing his left hand against the edge of the blade, Aeon managed to, with great difficulty, cleave through the fireball, sending it spinning past either side of the dome, where it exploded on the ground.

Panting hard, Aeon dropped to one knee on top of the ice dome.  He glared up at Rudra's crimson eyed head, which began to chuckle.  "Behind you!" Mina and the others called in unison as they saw Rudra's blue eyed head sucking in air.

Leaping off the dome, Aeon jabbed his sword into the ground and faced the flat of the blade to the blue eyed head before pressing his hand to the ground.  A wall of ice crystals sprang up around Aeon, just as Rudra's blue eyed head expelled a whirlwind of sand and grit at him.

To Mina and the others, it seemed as if the ice crystals surrounding Aeon were holding back the tempest.  However, moments after the storm had surrounded them, the crystals began to be worn away before what remained was pulled into the maelstrom. 

With nothing to protect him, Aeon was jerked off the ground and would have been pulled into the air had he not been holding onto his blade.  However, the rocks around the frost edged sword weathered away and it eventually slipped free of the ground.  Aeon was tossed about by the wind until it slammed him into the dome of ice and held him there as the storm buffeted it.

"The walls are wearing away!" Daryl exclaimed, trying to keep her distance from the ice dome's walls, which were gradually thinning out as the cracks that had been made in it slowly spread.

"Oh no..." Deminos grunted, his eyes widening when something metal clanked against the ice.

"Oh...Goddess..." Mina held her hand over her mouth.  What had clanked against the dome was a piece of Aeon's armor.  The sand had rusted and ripped it from Aeon's body.  With nothing to protect him, Aeon's blue skin was slowly being torn off him.  Celine grabbed her and forced Mina to look away, but before she did, Mina saw the last of Aeon's armor disappear, revealing a gaping hole in the left side of his chest.

The sound of the wind and the sand whirling around them became a dreadful howl, and though Mina pull free of Celine's grasp, the tan skinned girl held her down and prevented her from looking at Aeon.  When the wind finally stopped, all that Mina could hear was laughter so loud that it shook the ground she and the others were standing on.

Celine let her up and hung her head.  "He's still standing, Mina.  But..." she stopped and motioned towards a figure in tattered pants holding a broken, rusted hilt in a hand covered in frozen blood.

"Aeon..." Deminos whispered, as the figure shambled around to face them.

“Good.  It’s still holding,” Aeon muttered aloud, a smile crossing his broken lips.

Mina's mouth was open but words refused to come out.  Aeon's armor and greaves had been worn away and his beautiful blue broadsword was now a rusted brown hilt in his hand.  Much of his skin had been stripped away and icicles made of red blood hung off his exposed muscles.  However, her eyes were drawn to the hole in Aeon's chest.  No matter how hard she tried, Mina could not see a heart within the black void.

Seeing her distress, Aeon let out a faint chuckle.  "You needn't worry," he shrugged, with some effort.  "I'm pretty numb, so it doesn't hurt that much.  Besides..." he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  Aeon's body seemed to briefly glow white and green, as new skin formed over his exposed muscle and bone.  Within seconds, the damage the sandstorm had done was repaired.  "I'm not as fragile as I appear."

"Huh...?" Mina suppressed a gasp, but her eyes stayed fixed on the hole in Aeon's chest.  "Aeon...your chest...it's...."

Aeon frowned and put a hand over the hole.  "It's nothing," he grunted, turning back to face Rudra.  Putting his hand to his sword, Aeon ran it along the broken hilt until it reached the end of the blade, but continued moving it over thin air.  White light formed from the end of Aeon's sword and extended until he stopped moving his hand.  The light expanded and seemed to become solid.  Ice flowed out of Aeon's fingertips and around the blade until it was whole once again.

"What the...?" Celine couldn't stop herself from mumbling.

"That's holy magic...he's used it to create a construct of light.  Only advanced mages can do that!" Daryl exclaimed.

"Hey!" Deminos yelled, banging on the now paper thin walls of the ice dome.  "You never told me you could heal yourself like that!  I...I really thought you were gonna die!"

Aeon shrugged and hefted his sword over his shoulder.  "I planned on telling you when you were ready."

"Dammit..." Deminos growled, glancing down at his blackened hand.

The neck of Rudra's red eyed head moved through the rocky soil, cracking it where it would not move aside, and took up a position next to the blue eyed head.  "Are you even trying?" they muttered together.  "It's hardly entertaining if all you do is sit there and take it."

"Enough of this!" Aeon hefted his blade in Rudra's direction.  "Aren't you satisfied yet?!"

"Not quite," a growl echoed from underground.

Something moved under what rock and soil remained on the mountain and Aeon raised his sword.  A flash of crimson in front of Aeon indicated that a third head, as titanic as Rudra's other two, had shot out of the ground with its teeth bared.  Aeon slammed his sword against the beast’s colossal fangs, holding it at bay while slowly being pushed backwards.  "You've always talked about choice, Rudra," Aeon panted, slicing through one of Rudra's fangs with a sudden burst of strength before dropping to one knee on the dirt, as the Dragon's head pulled back to join the other two.  "Well...are you ready to answer for your choices?"

Rudra's third head had four green eyes and they were all locked on Aeon.  The three heads smile, though the green eyed head licked it's shorn tooth with a forked tongue.  “Hehe, Father once told me that freedom doesn’t mean living without consequences.  It means embracing them whole heartedly!  That's why Mother gave us the power of choice to begin with.  I am prepared Aeon," the three heads spoke in unison.  "And from the looks of things...so are you.”

"Protecting my comrades isn't a choice," Aeon stumbled to his feet and raised his sword, his body heaving with each effort.  "It's second nature."

Stretching out their necks, Rudra's three heads intertwined together and smirked.  "Allow me to show you a fraction of the power that formed this world," the crimson Dragon murmured, "as thanks for entertaining me!"

Rudra's three heads opened their mouths as one.  Red, blue, and green flames swirled in each mouth, coalescing together to create a rainbow of colors.  The fire danced in Rudra's mouth, mesmerizing Mina and the others even as Aeon raised his sword.  Finally, Rudra's heads reeled back before spewing out the multicolored flames, which threatened to engulf everything in front of them.

Frigid air billowed forth from Aeon's blade as he raised it over his head.  Bringing the blue sword down with a mighty swing, Aeon tried to cleave through the rainbow colored flames.  At first, Aeon's strike seemed to hold the inferno at bay, however the multicolored flames poured out with such intensity that after a moment of holding them back, they swept over Aeon.  His feet skidded backwards, shoring up earth around him and slowly burying him in the ground.

Mina and the others lost sight of Aeon as the flames blazed past him and slammed into the ice dome.  The cracks already in the dome spread with lighting speed until the ice was cracked all the way through.  The air in the dome rippled from the heat of the flames.

"Get down!  The dome's about to give!" Celine called as sweat erupted all over her skin.  She grabbed Mina and Daryl, but before she could pull them to the ground, Deminos grabbed Daryl's wrist.

"Put up a barrier around us!  I might be able to shield us from the worst of the flames!" Deminos yelled, holding out both hands.  Their sweat was slowly drawn into Deminos's hands along with any water he could pull out of the air.

"It's too strong!" Daryl cried, holding her hands over her head as tears spilled over her sweat drenched skin.  "I...I can't!"

"Yes you can!" Mina grabbed Daryl by the shoulders and looked her squarely in the eyes.  "You're strong, Daryl!  I know you are!"

"Go on, Princess!" Celine said, smiling manically while the dome of ice started to collapse around them.  "Give it a try!  After all, worst case scenario, we get incinerated!  There's worse ways to go," the tan skinned girl laughed.

Wiping away her tears, Daryl scowled at Celine.  "You're not helping!" she growled, raising both hands in front of her.  Closing her eyes, Daryl let out a grunt and her hands glowed with white light.  A small, thin, shield of white light appeared in front of her.  Deminos grabbed her hand with his own, which was swathed in water and slowly the light in Daryl's hands turned a deep shade of blue.  The water in Deminos's hands poured into the barrier of light, infusing it with water.

No sooner had the barrier been raised than the dome of ice shattered around them and the flames crashed over them.  The heat was so intense that Mina felt like her dress was melting into her skin, however the worst of the flames seemed to curve around the barrier Daryl and Deminos had created.  They pressed their joined hand against it as the last of the flames passed over them.

When the flames died down, Deminos and Daryl collapsed, still holding each other's hands.  Their shield exploded and water droplets fell on the four of them like rain.

Mina and Celine crawled over to them, feeling their dresses cling to their sweat covered bodies with each movement they made.  Flipping Daryl and Deminos over, Mina felt their wrists.  "They're alive," she panted, nodding at Celine.

"Can't believe we survived that," Celine chuckled, shaking her head.  "Though...I guess we're pretty helpless now, huh?"

"That was...different," Mina mumbled, looking through the smoke and the haze, unable to see either Aeon or Rudra.  "Those flames...they weren't like others.  They were hot, sure, but...I can't help but feel like if they were meant to kill us, then we'd already be dead."

"What are you talking about, Mina?" Celine mumbled.

Shuddering, Mina wrapped her arms around herself.  "I remember what real flames feel like, Celi.  Those were-"

"Those were not meant for you, thief."  A puff of wind from Rudra's blue eyed head dispelled the smoke and the haze, revealing Aeon, buried up to his waist in the rocky ground.  His right arm had been completely blown off and his sword was nowhere to be seen.  Despite his wounds, Aeon clawed at the dirt, struggling to extricate himself with only one arm.  "They were meant for him," Rudra snickered.

"Aeon!" Mina cried, stumbling to her feet.

"You've done well, surviving this long," Rudra's three heads murmured, their eyes locked on Aeon.  "How does one more sound?  Think you can handle it?" Rudra laughed and coiled his three heads together once again.  Rainbow colored lights seemed to dance in Rudra's gullet once again.

"H-He's not after us..." Mina stammered, moving over the rocky terrain as fast as her stiff limbs would carry her.

"Mina, get back!" Celine yelled, trying to follow after her, only to collapse on the ground next to Daryl and Deminos.  "Dammit!  Why can't I move?!"

"I-I'll be okay, Celi!" Mina grimaced, holding her sides but continuing towards Aeon.  "Look after Daryl and Deminos!"

Most of the rocks on the mountain had been melted, but enough remained for Mina to limp and stagger over to Aeon, who was still trying to dig himself out of the ground.  "Get away from here," Aeon muttered, pushing rubble aside before trying to wriggle free with just his left arm.

Without saying a word, Mina began to claw at the soil, pulling rocks big and small away from Aeon to try and form an opening he could pull himself out of.

"I told you to leave!" Aeon snapped at her.  "If you stay here, Rudra will incinerate you along with me!"

"I know," Mina mumbled, wiping her brow as the flames in Rudra's mouth sent a rainbow dancing across the sky.

"Then get out of here!" Aeon said, scooting a little ways out of the ground thanks to the space Mina had made.  "You're my responsibility!  I won't see you-"

"You're my friend, Aeon!" Mina snarled, tears blooming in her eyes.  "At least, that's how I feel!  Is that so hard to understand?!  If you know so much about me then...then..." she sniffled and grabbed Aeon's frostbitten arm.  Mina's hands burned with pain when she touched his skin, but she pulled hard nonetheless.

"I don't need your help!"  Aeon barked at her as bone and muscle sprouted from his right shoulder to reform his arm.  “Just leave me!”

"If you could've won, you'd have done it by now," Mina said, even as her hands began to go numb.  Digging her feet into the ground, Mina gave a mighty heave and managed to pulled Aeon another few inches out of the dirt.  Her shoulder's sagged and she dropped to her knees.  "Maybe...maybe you don't want my help," Mina panted, holding tightly to Aeon's frozen arm.  "But I swore...I swore on that day that...that I..."

"That you'd never abandon anyone ever again?" Aeon finished for her.  Grabbing a rock with his newly formed right arm, Aeon managed to pull himself out of the ground with Mina’s help.  "You know that wasn't your fault," he added.

"I don't care!" Mina growled, finally releasing Aeon's hand.  Gazing down at the ugly red blisters on her palm, she wrapped her dress around her hands.  "I can't use magic, or summon Goetians, or even wield a sword!  But I can...at least do...this much," she panted hard before collapsing on the ground.

The whole mountain seemed to glow with the flames that Rudra had summoned in his mouth, however Aeon did not turn to face them.  He knelt down next to Mina and helped her sit up.  "Hehe," a smile crossed Aeon's lips and he chuckled softly.  "I bet your mother'd be proud of you for what you've just done."

Coughing a little, Mina managed a smirk of her own.  "You think?"

"Yes.  Though, your father would probably shake his head at your recklessness."

"Yeah..." Mina nodded and sighed.  "That sounds like my papa."  Looking up at the scarred, frostbitten face that smiled down at her, Mina asked, "I bet you're shaking your head right now too, huh, Aeon?"

"Maybe a little...but I'm used to dealing with unruly children.  None of my comrades in Acacia ever seem to grow up completely," he snickered.

Glancing over Aeon's shoulder, Mina saw the flames in Rudra’s mouths spill out of the sides of the three mouths, coalescing into a dazzling inferno of many colors.  "Aeon...are we going to die here?" Mina grunted, resting her head against his arm.

Aeon closed his eyes for a moment and Mina saw Rudra reel back and breath a tidal wave of flames down at them, big enough to encompass the entire mountain.

"No.  We're not going to die here," Aeon said, laying Mina down on the ground before getting to his feet.

From her spot on the ground, Mina saw Aeon's emerald eyes flash with light and he raised his right hand into the air.  All around him, every color of light imaginable seemed to gather in his palm.  Aeon clenched his right hand into a fist and grabbed his wrist with his left hand.

"Shanadia reproaches you, Chaos Dragon," Aeon muttered before turning to face the oncoming flames.  Throwing out his right hand, Aeon spread his fingers as far apart as they would go.  A small, concentrated burst of rainbow colored energy shot out of his palm and pierced through the flames with such speed and power that it snuffed them out.  After blowing through the flames, the energy blasted Rudra’s heads against the mountain, stripping away most of the rock that remained to reveal nothing but crimson scales underneath.

"W-Woah..." Mina mumbled, wide eyed.

Aeon knelt down next to Mina as an aftershock of the blast shook the mountain.  "You alright?"

Nodding numbly, Mina swallowed hard.  "I...I guess you really didn't need my help after all," she stammered, blushing hard.

"No...I was holding that back for a reason," Aeon panted, as his skin began to crack.

"A-Aeon?!" Mina exclaimed, forcing herself to sit up.  Holding her side, she touched Aeon's right arm only for it to crack and shatter under her fingertips.  "What's happening?!"

"I...overdid it," Aeon coughed, as cracks spread throughout his body.  "I used too much Leyline energy with that last move.  I can't heal my wounds for a while.  Hehe...at this point, I can barely hold myself together."  As he spoke, Aeon's left leg snapped underneath him and he dropped to the ground with a sickening crack, like glass dropping on a hard wood floor.  "Ugh...this might really be it for me..." he smirked.

"N-No!  I...Aeon...I still need to tell you something!  To apologize!" Mina wept, touching Aeon's left arm only for it to crumble as she did.  "This...this is all my fault..." she trembled and pulled her hands away from Aeon.

"Mina!  Aeon!  What was that?!" Glancing behind her, Mina saw Celine helping Daryl and Deminos up the mountain after her.  "There was this burst of light and the flames just..." Celine stopped when she saw Mina in tears and Aeon's shattered body.  "Princess!" she shook Daryl, "Have you got any energy left?!"

"A...a little," Daryl grunted, stumbling forward and nearly colliding with Mina.  Holding her hand over Aeon's body, white light flickered to life in her palms, but she shook her hands with frustration.  "Something...something's not right!  His body's not receiving my healing!"

"No..." Mina stammered, looking from the shocked Daryl to Celine, who averted her gaze.  "Th-then..."

"Aeon..." Deminos grunted, dropping to the ground and crawling over to what remained of the lich.  "I...I failed you.  I broke my promise and undid the seal!  And...and I...if I hadn't-" the brunette conjurer wept.

"You've done well, Dem," Aeon grunted.  "The girls're safe."

"Haha, aren't you forgetting something?!" Mina and the others whipped their heads around and saw Rudra's three heads lift themselves from the rubble.  Several of his crimson scales had been peeled off and green blood leaked out of a few wounds in his neck.

The heads drew closer to Aeon and the others, a smile forming on all three of their mouths, despite their wounds.  The ground beneath the five of them began to rumble violently and five ivory talons, each roughly the size of a small mountain, shot out of the ground around them.  The rock beneath Aeon and the others crumbled away to reveal a set of crimson scales, which slowly lifted them into the air, following the claws.

"That power...I see now why father respects you," Rudra chuckled and pulled his heads back.  "I concede this battle to you, Aeon."

"What?!" Mina exclaimed, looking up incredulously at Rudra's heads as a layer of dark green mist began to descend upon them.

"So...he's finally here?!" Aeon grunted, as his torso began to disintegrate.

"Yes.  I must thank you for entertaining me in the meantime," Rudra replied.

Through the clouds, the silhouette of a colossal dragon, so large that it seemed to encompass the entire sky, appeared.  The figure was so massive that it blocked out the sun.  More of the green mist flowed down from the silhouette, blanketing the mountain. 

"Just in time," Aeon smirked and took a deep breath.  Slowly, his body began to mend itself.  Bone, muscle, and skin weaved itself together out of Aeon's shattered stumps and torso, until he was completely reconstituted.

Glancing from Aeon to her hands, Mina saw that the blisters on her palms were receding.  After a few minutes, they were completely gone.  "What...is this?" she mumbled.

"I dunno, but my shoulder's not hurting anymore," Celine said, stretching her arms over her head before twisting her shoulder around.

"Is this...magic?" Daryl murmured.

"Yes...the oldest magic..." a gentle voice boomed out of the clouds.  The silhouette of the massive Dragon began to shrink in size.  The clouds parted to reveal a large emerald Dragon, whose scales, despite being a deep green, seemed to dance with every color imaginable.  The emerald Dragon continued to grow smaller until it alighted in the palm of Aeon's hand.  "I see you made it."

"Yes," Aeon nodded, glancing back at Mina and the others.  "It was fortunate that Cerus told us they'd crossed into your territory.  Because of that, I made it in time."

Blinking six teal eyes at Aeon, the tiny emerald Dragon let out a sigh.  "I can only apologize for my children.  We have the law, but..."

"Rudra held back," Aeon added.  "If he'd wanted us dead, we'd be dead.  Let's leave it at that, Seran."

"Seran?" Mina repeated the name slowly.

"It is my name, young lady," the tiny Dragon bowed its head to Mina.  "Most simply call me the All-father, but Seran was the name I was given by my mother."

"Sh-Shanadia?" Daryl stammered, gazing at the creature in awe.  When the creature nodded at her, Daryl got down on her knees and prostrated herself before the Dragon.  "I-It is an honor to meet you, your lordship!" she said at a rapid pace.

"Princess?" Celine muttered, as Deminos prostrated himself before the Dragon as well.

"Get down, vagabond!" Daryl hissed.  "This is the one for whom our world was named!  Even the lord prophet bows before the All-father of the Dragons!"

"Hmmhmmm," Seran chuckled.  "Your reverence is amusing, but unnecessary.  We stopped pretending to be gods ages ago.  There is but one, and she suffered so that we may live in peace," The little Dragon bowed his head.  Rudra's three heads followed suit and silence briefly overtook them.

"Errr..." Deminos mumbled, rising to his feet.  "All-father...I...I need to-" he looked pale, even though the green mist seemed to have restored Deminos's energy.

"Oh, right!" Mina exclaimed, quickly getting between Deminos and Seran.  "I think I owe you an apology," she said, reaching down her dress and pulling out the three Dragon scales and the egg fragment.  "We came here by accident and thought that Aeon might be able to send us home.  So, we headed up the mountain to find him.  Only...I picked these up out of curiosity.  I thought they would make good souvenirs and-"

"No!  That's not how it happened, she-" Deminos said, only to have Celine stamp on his foot.

Seran and Aeon exchanged a knowing glance.  "Scales are but a trifle.  We have no need for them.  Yet, we cannot have my children being hunted.  So, we enacted the law that nothing must be taken and none of my children must be hurt on Draconia"

"It is flawed, but often times, very entertaining," Rudra chuckled.  "Tell you what.  For being such a good sport, why don't you keep them?" the Dragon winked an eye on each of its three heads.

"And in return, please do not mention this...transgression to the Elder Council," Seran added.  "We are more than happy to send a representative...especially during these troubled times.  However, we do not need to be watched or scrutinized.  Xalken had best keep his eyes out of our business."

"I'll inform master Dezolis and the Gale Prophet of your request.  I'm sure they'll acquiesce," Aeon said.  "Now we must go."

"To keep the balance?" Rudra snickered.  Aeon glared at the Dragon, but he seemed to not notice.  "You've chosen an odd path to walk, considering your power.  Nevertheless...it should be most entertaining.  Do come back and visit us, won't you?"

"Perhaps," Aeon allowed himself a smirk as Rudra's claw sank back into the ground. 

Opening his tiny mouth, Seran breathed out another wave of green mist.  The melted stone, shattered rock, and ruined faces of the mountain seemed to mend themselves, with rock forming over Rudra's scales until his claw vanished into the dirt, leaving Aeon and the others standing on firm ground.  The crimson Dragon's three heads shrank back into the mountain's rock wall and soon disappeared.

"You certainly have interesting apprentices, Aeon," Seran nodded to Mina and the others before spreading his wings.  Seran floated into the air where his shadow cast a gigantic silhouette on the clouds in the sky as he winged his way up the mountain.

"Did he say..." Mina mumbled, holding her hand over her chest as her heart skipped a beat.

"Well, imagine how this must look to him," Aeon shrugged and let out a tiny laugh.  "Not even the All-father knows all."

"Aeon..." Deminos rubbed his arm and stepped forward.  "I know you know that...that I..."

To everyone's surprised, Aeon went over to Deminos and wrapped his arms around the teen's scrawny shoulders.  Lifting him off the ground in a bear hug, Aeon said, "None of that matters now.  I'm just glad you're safe." Dropping a very stunned Deminos back on the ground, Aeon gave him a light buffet on the head and smirked at him.  "I imagine Yuka's got worse waiting for you back at Acacia, though."

"Hehe, I'll take whatever she can dish out," Deminos blushed and scratched his blackened arm.  "I deserve it for being so damned foolish."

"Foolish, but never worthless," Aeon said, putting his hands on Deminos's shoulders.  "You protected them and they protected you," Aeon gestured to Mina, Celine, and Daryl.  "I hope you never forget that."

Deminos blushed so deeply that his face resembled a cherry.  He could only give Aeon a curt nod in response, while keeping his eyes glued to his shoes.

"Okay, so, we're all alive and the Dragons have let us go.  What now?" Celine shrugged, a smile playing at her lips.

"Now," Aeon murmured, his stoic demeanor returning as cloth and bone began to form around his flesh.  In an instant, he resumed his more skeletal form and folded his hands behind his back, "Deminos must see to it that you three return to Gesthal safely."

"Oh, thank the goddess..." Daryl sighed, "I need food and a bath in the worst way possible!"

Stifling a giggle, Mina tugged on Aeon's cloak.  "Ummm...about what I said before...do you think we could talk about it...?"

"Tomorrow," Aeon finished for her, holding his hand into the air.  A beam of blue light shot into the sky and seconds later a tunnel of blue light stretched across the horizon and touched down around the five of them.  "For now, let us return home."