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Chapter 4: Reborn Anew

James slowly opened his eyes to see something large and green pacing around back and forth near him. His vision was extremely blurred and all that he could see of figures around him were large fuzzy masses of color which he managed to slowly make shapes out of as his eyes began to clear once again. Judging by the moon still high in the sky, it was about midnight and Alex was pacing back and forth with an emotion of sheer panic on her face, clawing at the walls, roaring in helplessness.

He tried to move, but only managed to let out a small groan as he laid back on his back, his chest still a bloody mess underneath his torn shirt.

"James!!!!!!!!" Alex roared, charging towards him, skidding as her claws slid across the floor slightly.

"Alex..." James said softly, lifting his arm slowly.

She pushed the top of her muzzle into it, letting him pet her head softly.

"I thought you were...dead!!!!!" Alex said, her eyes streaming with tears.

"Heh... I made a promise and I intend to keep it," James replied, slowly stroking her head with his hand.

"I thought I had lost you!!" Alex cried, roaring as her telepathic communication continued.

"Haha... I just wanted to repay the favor... did you enjoy the fish?" James asked, his heart leaping with the same excitement that she had when she brought him a meal.

"I did...but its not worth getting you injured over!!!!" Alex roared, tears still streaming from her face... "What were you doing out there?!!!!"

"I was fishing...then... he came to me.... Aegis...." James said softly...

"Aegis...?!" Alex exclaimed, her eyes widening.

"Thats what he called himself...AGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" James shouted, clutching his chest.

Alex ripped open the shirt he was wearing and began to slowly lick his wounds with her long tongue, attempting to heal them with her powers.

"How were you wounded?! Thats what I want to know!" Alex shouted, still licking his wounds.

"I faced my hatred in the form of Talon... My mission was to overcome my own hatred... and to be reborn anew... as a defender and guardian of your kind... He said something about 'our' kind... referring to me as one of them. I do not know why... but when I looked into the pool of water below me... I saw myself as a blue dragon... and he kept referring to me by 'Cyril'..." James said weakly.

"A blue dragon you say? The water clan has been long gone for a while now... nobody has seen or heard of them for a very long time... I think there are still some blue dragons left in this world... if they have not been killed yet..." Alex said softly as she began to lick at his bruises. "Were you able to overcome.... Talon?"

"I would believe that I had overcome my hatred...but not Talon... he is still out there... Aegis did however, grant me a portion of his strength..." James said.

"I found you on the shore of the lake with a massive light radiating from your body, but with deadly wounds all over you!!! I tried to heal you but it wouldnt let me near you! It was as if you were protected by some shield!" Alex cried.

"It must have been Aegis protecting me... I guess he didnt want anyone interfering with me while I was...being transformed... Speaking of which, how did you manage to get me back here?" James asked.

"I... well..." Alex began to say.

"What?" James asked.

"I... had to drag you by your leg... it wouldnt let me any further than that.... sorry if you feel any worse...." Alex apologized.

James chuckled beginning to rub his hand across her muzzle lovingly. He felt an ancient power deep within him, but he also felt extremely weak, but not near death. He began to feel an even greater bond forming between himself and this...dragon... a bond he had never truly felt before.

"It is quite all right my love... I feel as if this is just another one of the events in life that bring two people even closer together... I am your protector now... but... it looks as if I am the one in need of protection," he chuckled.

"Promise me you wont do anything like that again!" Alex cried, pressing her head to his chest, which had been completely healed by her nature powers, the wounds no longer visible, not even a scar was left behind.

"I promise my love," James said, laying his arm around her neck, kissing her scaly neck as she silently wept into his shoulder.

"I cant imagine what it would feel like to be alone again!!!!" Alex cried, "So lonely.... no one left.... I am beginning to think that I am the last of the Earthen Clan.... our lands were ravaged by those filthy dragon slayers!!!!!!"

James winced at the sudden spike of hate in her voice, but then she quickly realized what she had said and laid her head against his, "You are forgiven... but I will not allow any more of us to die... "

"I will see to it that we end this madness.... and should I die trying..." James began to say.

"Dont speak! Never speak of your death again!" Alex cried... "I never want to lose you... To be left alone..."

"Alright! Alright~," James smiled. "Jeez, you really love me that much dont you?"

Alex let out a deep growl in her throat, "Of course I love you! Dont ever doubt that!"

"Okay okay!" James began to chuckle as she began to lick his face lovingly and without hesitation.

"We are mates, James... We are inseperable now. If you were to ever die... I would follow you myself..." Alex purred deeply in her throat.

James kissed her muzzle lovingly, making sure that she got the message. "I love you, Alex..."

She purred deeply in her throat as he did so, closing her eyes in pleasure as she enjoyed the loving embrace of her lover, nuzzling him closely.

He took her head in his hands and kissed her on the inside of her muzzle, enjoying a passionate kiss with her as her eyes began to slowly flutter in pure bliss... the union of love surging through them as she was overwhelmed with affection and ecstasy.

At that moment, James broke the kiss, hearing something scraping metal across the ground, the unnatural sound resonating loudly throughout the halls in the cave.

"What is that...?" Alex asked, her eyes growing wider as James managed to stand, his bones still aching, but no longer broken.

"Where is my sword?" James asked, looking around frantically.

Alex picked it up in her jaws and slid it towards him over the ground, allowing him to pick it up hastily.

He looked around, cautiously holding his blade at his side in his battle stance as he began to hear the sound of the metal growing dangerously closer. He could feel the tiny sensations within him tingle as the screeching reached his inner ears, what was going on?

As the sound grew closer, a dark, crimson boot entered the glowing light of the room, soon followed by a suit of red armor, the face in the helmet looking downward ominously.

"What are you?!" James shouted.

The suit of armor remained motionless, the sword no longer dragging across the stone floor. As it looked up, the face inside of the helmet terrified him.

"Youu....thought you could be rid of me....ssssooooo eassssssily..... You are wrong!!!!!" The voice hissed.

Its then that he realized that the armor that the creature was wearing was his own, and the corrupted form of his sword was tightly gripped within the fiend's skeletal hand.

"You....impossible.... me...." James said.

"Enough gawking!!! Lets get him!!!!!!" Alex cried, beginning to charge after him.

James quickly bolted towards his the evil spirit, but was sent flying backward with a side slash of the undead fiend's weapon.

"JAMES!!!!" Alex cried, but was quickly immobilized by a dark force strangling her by the neck as a hangman's noose would to a condemned soul.

James growled, "Let her go!!!!!!!"

"NEVER!!!! You were a fool to so willingly let me go! Now...all that you care about will be destroyed...again! And when that happens... you will be forced to absorb me once more! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA!!!!!" The evil spirit shouted, increasing his grip on Alex.

"NO!!!!!!!!!!!! I will never let you hurt her!!!" James shouted, charging towards the fiend with all of his might.

James swiftly slashed downward onto the fiend's body, but it was quickly blocked by a horizontal slash, followed by several quick thrusts towards James, which he parried all except one, cutting at his leg.

"James! He has loosened his grip on me... I cant move but I can breathe now! Kill him!" Alex cried out to him.

Their blades met in a flash of sparks, their shining edges dancing in the glow of the crystals lining the walls, locked in a never-ending flurry of sparks and clangs that seemed to echo through the hallways.

"You cannot defeat me and you know it!" James said, pointing the sword at the skeletal fiend's throat in a swift lunge.

"Or can I? Imagine the face on your precious little girlfriend's face when I drive this blade through you!!!" The fiend shouted, lunging at him once more. "You are fighting an unwinnable fight, James.... let me in you again... I preferred it inside..."

"Never!!!" James shouted, but before he could parry a downward slash, he was cut across his chest, blood spraying in all directions as he fell to the ground.

"Now.... if you die this will just make everything even easier... all I have to do is control your body myself!" The fiend chuckled... kicking him while he cringed on the floor.

"This hold!!! I cannot escape it!!!! What vile sorcery is this?!?!?!?!" Alex cried, trying to break free of the bonds that were holding her.

"Say goodbye to your precious little dragon..." The fiend said, pointing the tip of the blade downward in its hands, before thrusting downward into his body.

"JAMESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Alex screamed, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Pathetic weakling.... spurning me for a spark of that damned holy light!!!!" the fiend spat, "I was his true strength... the only one if you ask me...."

James gasped for air, his world closing in around him as his heartbeat rose in volume... but began to slow in tempo... his vision becoming blurred.... as his life slowly came to a close...

"JAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Alex cried out, "NO! DONT LEAVE ME HERE!!!"

A tear fell from James' eye as he began to lose his vision... and before long... he grew silent...

"Pathetic fool....." the fiend said, kicking his face with the iron boot he wore.

"As for you....my pretty.... you are going to become quite a tool... yesssssssss.....Before long you will lead me to the rest of your kind... or you will die like your weakling friend!" the fiend said, slowly running his skeletal fingers over her scaly cheek.

Something hulking around in the corner of her eye caught her attention however, as a bright light engulfed the entire room.

"What...is...this?!" The fiend said, lowering the faceplate on the helmet to avoid the light.

"I made a vow.......Never to leave you alone Alex....I made a vow.... to protect you at all costs..... And I made a vow.... that I would destroy the evil corrupting this world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a voice called out from the light.

"James...?" Alex asked softly.

"You.... you are no longer a part of me....demon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are nothing but the taint that fouls this world!!!! I vow that this world will be rid of you!!!!!! Today the world loses one more dark soul!!! NEVER TO RETURN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The voice roared.

The fiend hissed, drawing its sword once again.

"YOU!!!!!!! MUST FACE YOUR JUDGEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" James shouted, the light becoming shaded with two large wings emerging from within it, casting shadows dancing along the wall.

"What....?!" the fiend shouted in disbelief, "Impossible!!!!!!!!!"

"Your true weapon lies within your heart and what you believe in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No longer do I believe in hatred... and no longer do I believe that the only way to regain my happiness is to wipe this world of dragons!!! YOU ARE POWERLESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FACE MY RIGHTEOUS JUDGEMENT FIEND!!!!!!!" James shouted, charging from the light.

The fiend charged towards James, but was overcome with terror at what he saw.

"Meet your end...." James said from a long blue dragon muzzle, slashing at the neck of the beast with his blade, severing the head of the evil spirit before incinerating it with a blast of flame from his maw, the blackened body falling to the ground helplessly before turning into a pile of ashes.

The bonds around Alex collapsed as the body did... as did James....

His wings folded inwards as he fell, laying against the cold stone floor, only hearing his heartbeat as Alex frantically tried to communicate with him as his eyes began to close in exhaustion. He was no longer human, but what he had seen in the lake... a dragon with the form of a human, save a few other features including his horns, tail, wings, and head of the dragon.

Alex roared, clawing at the walls angrily. James managed to let out a small chuckle as he fell into a deep slumber, his body physically spent, no more energy left. All that mattered to him was that he had saved his mate from danger... and in return had triggered his newly gained latent powers... a broad horizon awaited him.