Dragon Frost (4 page)

"She is already just that! You do not understand the destructive power that you would protect so blindly!" Simera replied.

Nafury made a desperate gasp again, as Ubi tried to take control of Simera's shift. Blood dripped from her nose as she strained to make the dragon spirit listen. Just as Simera descended on them, she gained control of him and forced Simera from his dragon shift.

The dragon king let out a cry of pain, as the black mist dissipated and left him in his human-like appearance. His shift, a dark mauve spirit of a dragon, coiled and uncoiled its body in an attempt to break free of Ubi's control over it.

"Nafury!" Ubi cried to him, but he wasn't moving anymore. She looked at Simera who was quickly coming around and cried out for help, even as it seemed like there no one left to help.

The ruins began to shake, and Ubi dared to look down through the broken ceiling she stood on. Light blue eyes from a white figure looked back at her from the darkness.

The creature drew closer, and all at once the rubble exploded from under her. It effortlessly threw them all into the air. The white dragon caught Nafury first, pulling him into its shift. Then it caught her before she could hit the floor of the lower ruins. The last thing she heard was the white dragon's infuriated cry of vengeance. Her last sight of Simera was blinded with blood.

SEVEN

Simera's memories of Nafury's mother, Serena, were beautiful. The King of Dragons had selflessly given her everything and asked for nothing. The sad truth of it all was that he never loved her past friendship and his need to control her. It was a cold, lingering sadness that now took over Nafury's heart. He continued to watch the dragoon's memories play out in random before his eyes. The spirit that had hold of Nafury now burned hotter and hotter with hate at each image he saw. Finally, the heat became so overwhelming that it blinded his soul from seeing anything more.

'She was never destined for me,'
Simera's voice said in the back of his mind, before it faded entirely.

Nafury opened his eyes to find himself hovering just out of reach of the Efereal Mountain. Its strong winds momentarily threatened to throw his balance off entirely. He was flying, and he didn't have the slightest idea how or why. He darted his gaze in all directions, before remembering enough about how to be a dragon and descended to land.

He wore a dragon form as white as the snow under him when he knew he should have been dead. He remembered how to unshift, and took on his human appearance again. The white mist dispersed around him, merging with the snow flurries. He expected to see his newest dragon shift beside him, but instead there stood the ghostly image of Alexia. He had only seen memories of her from others. She was supposed to have died long before he was born, giving birth to Cirrus. But she was an Awl, and he had heard that she had nearly forced Cirrus to kill Sybl at one point, and was imprisoned by Gei for it. She was beautiful, if only in a cold, defiant sort of way. Her blond hair fell around her feet, and her light blue eyes flashed unpredictably. She wore a simple white dress that looked like a design Earth might have made. "Alexia?"

She didn't answer, and he looked to his feet where Ubi had been set down asleep in the snow. Its coldness was enough to wake her, and she sat up momentarily before jumping to her feet from the sting of it.

"Nafury? Oh thank heavens--I thought you were dead!" she said in a panic and hugged him.

He returned the hug with his own and let out a breath of relief. "Let's not do that again."

She nodded and pulled away, wiping some of the tears from her eyes. Ubi took a moment to acknowledge the woman spirit, before looking around for Xirel. "Where's Xirel?"

Nafury closed his eyes for a moment, trying to catch a Thread that might lead to Xirel. He found one, though it was faint. "He limping, again. But he's on his way here."

"Phew," Ubi said and focused back on Alexia. The two of them seemed to have a silent battle of wills before Ubi gave up. "Your shift is weird."

Alexia replied first with a sly smile. "I was momentarily worried that I would go from prisoner to your puppet. It would appear that you're strong, Fay, but still far from your true potential."

"How did you shift with me like that? I heard you were sealed away," Nafury said.

"I was, but the blood of that unholy one was enough to break me free."

At the mentioning of blood, Ubi quickly wiped the dried blood from her face.

"Unholy, eh?" Nafury said, unconvinced. He watched Ubi plant a handful of snow on her face to help her blood removal efforts. "I think you mean 'unruly.'"

"I'm glad to see that you haven't lost your sense of humour, Damek," Alexia said.

The way she said his previous incarnation's name sent a chill down his spine. "I don't go by that name anymore," Nafury replied, instantly agitated.
 

"You are Damek and you will always be Damek. How else would you still be alive on a Continent of phelan had you not created them? Why else would you care about them at all?" Alexia continued.

"You're crazier than I've seen in the memories of my pendant. Just what do you want? Revenge? Just what did you do with Simera?"

"We will never have to worry about Simera again. And no, you did not kill Cirrus. Your sister and her foolish actions led to his death."

"My sister is the one who saved two worlds! How dare you!"

Alexia laughed as she changed into her dragon form. He was given a full view of her teeth now that looked physical enough to bite him in half if she chose to. "A monster calling me a monster. It must be true then. But unlike you, I am no fool. I know what is coming with that Fay here, and it will not be a swift death like the Aeger, but a long and treacherous war."

"With who? The dragons?" Nafury asked.

"The dragons are all puppets like Simera returned as. They are not a concern, for their strings are just as easily cut. Eventually, however, only the fingers and hand of their manipulator will remain."

"And who is that?" Ubi asked, having gotten all the blood off of her face.

"I don't know. The Threads are tangled in such a way to hide the puppeteer well. They will make a mistake though, in time. That's when we must strike."

"I'm not teaming up with you," Nafury retorted, then looked to where Sial waited in the direction of the Efereal Mountains. He watched as Ubi went over to the kyrie to look him over, having never seen one before.

"Is it because I tried to kill your sister where you succeeded? Will you not so much as ask me why?" Alexia said with an innocent tone.

"Fine, why?" Nafury asked bitterly.

"Because her mother stole you from Earth and the other Three Generals. You may have forgotten, but I have not forgotten that you were once mine."

"We left by choice because we were tired of being slaves," Nafury replied.

A large smile spread across Alexia's face, making her dragon form even more terrifying. "So you do remember. We were not slaves, Damek, we were gods. You abandoned that existence for the love of a Sylph that you will never have again. Even now you blindside the needs of others for the sake of your own. We were the same then, and we are the same now."

"No, we are not." Nafury turned to leave.

"You cannot protect Ubi as you are now, Damek. If Kenshe doesn't kill you, the other dragons will have their vengeance. It is only a matter of time before the news of Simera's death reaches them."

"If it is my time to join my sister in death, then so be it!" Nafury snapped at her. "I will not make the mistake of surrendering my soul to a monster ever again."

"Then it will be Ubi who becomes the monster in your place. What Simera said is true. Soon she will remember everything and you will not be strong enough to pull her from the darkness."

Nafury stopped walking, and turned his eyes from Sial to the frozen ground. "And what guarantee would I have that you don't try and kill Ubi yourself?"

"I have no quarrel with her. Sybl was all that was left of Asteria and my need for revenge has died with them both. Ubi may be the daughter of your sister's previous incarnation, but she is no Fay of light. There is more darkness in that child than in the heart of Aragmoth. If anything, I pity her. She could very well be the monster who ultimately tries to destroy you, and I'd rather see that not come to pass."

Nafury could feel Alexia's hate for Simera simmering down in his very blood. So his adoptive father was dead. Such was Alexia's extreme level of strength. There was nothing left for her to hate and kill. "Did you ever love your son, Cirrus?"

Alexia didn't reply immediately. "I died minutes after he was born. I was not given the chance to love him when I was alive, but I loved him enough to keep him alive as long as I did as his shift."

"Only you don't die," Nafury added.

"Everything dies, Damek, except hate and love. The human form I had taken on Earth was killed. I returned to being what I am now. This Sentry form would have never worked well with Simera had I remained."

"So you became Cirrus' shift, forcing him to remain a dragon till he was a teen. Then your hateful attempt on Sybl's life forced Gei to separate you from him."

"I forced that on Gei, not the other way around. I knew that eventually Cirrus would be pitted against you in battle, and I had no intention to ever harm you. Moon was stronger for the task as well."

"So you chose to be potentially imprisoned for all eternity rather than harm me? I'm touched," Nafury mocked. He looked briefly at Ubi who was content to watch them debate it all out.

"Believe what you will. I don't waste time with lies," Alexia replied.

"So what do you get out of helping me?"

"I get what I always wanted," she replied.

"Which is?"

"You."

EIGHT

Nafury didn't believe the devastation that Kenshe had caused at the Efereal Mountains. The bodies of dozens of different animal variations of chimera lay strewn about. The smell of death was unbreathable while blood seemed to cover everything. The phelan left nothing that came within reach of their teeth alive. 

Ubi knelt silently before the giant bear before her and looked to the spirit that hovered nearby. It was a casualty amongst dozens.

"Please do not despair, Ubi," Xirel said as he appeared behind them in the tunnel. "You did not do this."

Ubi sprung to her feet and charged Xirel so fast, he nearly fell over in his weakened state. "Xirel! Are you alright?"

The Awl smiled and set a gentle hand down on her head. "I will be fine. I told Nafury to run with you while I held Simera off, but flying worked as well." Xirel looked then at Nafury. "Assuming our latest and most unexpected help doesn't have anyone left on her list to kill?"

"I'll have to check it over twice later on," Nafury said and looked to where Alexia drifted along the wall. The Sentry pretended to be unfocused and passive.

"How could that bastard do something like this?" Ubi demanded to know. "Wasn't Kenshe close to my mother?" Her anger continued to build.

"Kenshe is no longer a child, and your mother only had so much time with him," Xirel replied.

"I should have had his own shift bite his head off," Ubi said as she patted a place on the bear's fur that was not splattered in blood. "He must have been magnificent when he was alive."

"He will be missed," Xirel said solemnly and looked away from them both.

"Kenshe has to pay for this," Ubi said as she gripped the bear's fur.

"No, Ubi. There has been enough bloodshed as it is, and I fear that there will be much more to come. Nafury has already killed what can only be one of our enemy's strongest assets, Simera. They no longer have you and they will think twice before striking out at us again," Xirel said. 

Nafury could feel Xirel's need to protect Ubi from the lingering darkness in her mind. He wanted to do nothing less himself.

"I'm calling the True. I want every phelan shifter who spilled blood in this mountain tracked down and killed," Ubi said.

"Ubi!" Nafury said in concern.

"Will you try and stop me?" Ubi challenged. "I know you want them dead as well."

"Kenshe will get what's coming to him soon enough, but not like this," Nafury said.

"I saw how he humiliated you all these years. They constantly tormented you for what you had no control over to stop--I saw it all from Xirel's psi. How can you forgive him so easily? Geolan was one of the many who tried to surrender. Just like you, he didn't want to fight, but those bloodthirsty savages wouldn't let up!"

"Will killing the ones responsible make you feel better?" Nafury asked, trying to curb her temper. If she exploded on them now, he would lose her before he could fully grasp her trust. She was like dealing with an overheated Solar before the Last War.

"Yes," Ubi said without hesitation.

"Alright," Nafury said. "On the condition that you sleep on it. If you feel the same in the morning, I won't try and stop you. Heck, I will even help you."

Ubi took a moment to consider the deal before agreeing.

Xirel let out a silent sigh of relief and focused back on the task at hand; regaining the lost sanity in his mountain.