FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 13

Holy crap.

It looks like he didn't give enough credit to the dragon's delusion of grandeur. The dragon Volteer led him into his personal treasure vault it seems, on the way here they passed many bookshelves, a never ending maze of words that was the size of several libraries.

Cool, the dragon likes to read, inspire to something greater, idiotic and wasteful effort, but he might now know that, he himself learned the valuable lesson in his youth, perhaps here dragons didn't make such stupid mistakes as he did and took more time to develop their interests and goals.

Futile as they may be, he couldn't deny the fact that such actions give a certain dose of excitement that pushes you forward, makes you want to live and feel important. A pretty lie, while appetizing he was grateful that he shook the useless determination away.

The Guardian really had to take matters seriously, this laboratory he led him into was jaw dropping, he never seen so many fancy things in one place, he couldn't find a name for most of them, whatever stuff inside all those bottles and every other funny and otherwise container here left a lasting impression on the air in the room. His feathers tingled and swayed, impulsively trying to catch the palpable gust of magical potions, the gentle flaps made his paws bounce slightly as if he would be levitating.

Crystals were everywhere, literally, shards and more and less intact gems were scattered all around the room, most of them piled under the tables and drawers, glimmering menacingly from the shadows like eyes of rabid rats.

Others were splayed all around the top shelves, many were hanging from the walls in form of necklaces and all other sorts of chokers and whatnot. There was only a single torch in the room and yet the laboratory was perfectly lit, each gem casting its own illumination, the dancing flame of the torch making the colors swirl as if the walls were a pond, reflecting the shape of a rainbow.

It was breathtaking, the sight beautiful beyond belief, he always liked glistening things, came from his one sided love for stars, they always shimmered so nicely on the night sky, there were times when he spent entire evenings just staring at the dancing lights up in the heavens, pretending to play a tune upon the tiny, white shapes.

The gems left the same impact on him, the glistening, changing colors making him forget about his surroundings, the noise in the room, that was irritatingly loud and distracting, stopped mattering entirely. Bubbles, hisses and clicks were gone, replaced by the gentle screeching sound of shifting illumination.

This place was a world wonder and no amount of disdain could change that, Volteer worked hard to put it up together and seeing this determination was enough to spark some flame of hope in him that perhaps this visit here won't be as pointless as he thought. Shapers won't bother helping him, even if they did he had a feeling that their powers would be too big for him to cope with, but Volteer was just a random dragon like himself, having a learned trade, his determination could be the thing that can solve the riddle of his supposed demise.

He was skeptical towards it, but he knew how treacherous creatures can be, especially in a world like his where everyone struggles to direct the sight of the Shapers towards himself, some dirty tricks to eliminate competition won't be much surprising to see.

The pressure to find out what was going on with him was strong, especially when he learned that it might lead to his sped up demise. Of all the things in this world he was certain of two things, everyone is nothing compared to the Shapers and that he didn't want to die prematurely.

"We're here, what now?" Cloudas licked his lips anxiously, eyeing the scattered around the table and shelves, spotting all sorts of devices that could be a healing and a torture tool in one,

He wasn't sure if he would stand here if not for the obvious reverence of the creatures above and the Guardians words about the fate of their wind dragons, he was too important for them to be treated as a probing victim.

Not to mention that Volteer himself was extremely friendly, it was quite surprising to remember him holding his own in battle during the attack of the crazies not so long ago, the dragon was a walking box of joy and smiles, not even in the slightest giving signs that he knew what battle meant.

Who knows, maybe he was wrong about Volteer's intellectual potential as well, maybe under all that layer of clumsiness there was a brain capable of at least grasping the spectacular, as fleeting as the moment might be.

"We delve into the abstruse to envisage or to divulge the relevant facts!" Volteer chirped excitedly, immediately creating much noise as his fervent paws began sorting through all the materials in his close proximity

Cloudas pulled at his feathery cheeks with a snarl, twisting the strand in between the toes

"Why can't you simply say that we're going to experiment? Why use so many senseless, fancy words?"

The Electric Guardian smiled proudly, puffing out his chest, the sign of happiness stretching his lips made him look several years younger.

"Written works, especially those adjudged of predominant or lasting artistic merit are too beguiling to be appreciated in scraps, erroneous expend of language is devoid of enterprise" he tapped at his chest, puffing it out a little more "Electrical blood, always coruscating, never not spellbinding, rippling, diminutive, fiery particles a theme as they bounce, always a succor for the weight of a note of the past, a behest for scrutiny. Can't be helped, pace is our nature" the joy colored the yellow scales after the declaration, making them shine with happiness

"Sooooo" Cloudas scratched his goggles "You're nuts and you like it?"

"Precisely!" the Guardian confirmed loudly

"Oh boy" the wind drake whistled, head tilting in a fake desire to give the room one more look, while in truth looking for reassurance that could only be given by the sight of the exit door

"Do not be visibly disquieted my friend, a feeling of vehemence and appetemcy is the constituent of discovery!"

The young drake snorted, eyeing the exit door longingly.

"Excitement is only a bait for dragons like us, we're too small for any breakthroughs, we're just bugs in this world. All that is left is determination to make things we dedicate our worthless existence to as best as we can" he flipped the toy medallion around his claw back and forth "And even that is barely worth anything in the end"

Volteer's smile was pushed back, replaced by a concerned frown, in the recent times the events falling onto the Dragon Realms were far from welcoming, turning much of the hope and joy into depression and sorrow. It was an expected outcome, the psyche of a sentient being can only take a reserved portion of abuse until it finally cracks and Fate wasn't merciful, putting everyone to a test on regular basis.

All in all though, after each phase of destruction must come a phase of regeneration, healing was an essential part of evolution and was as natural as breathing. The older creatures, with experience behind their belts had a harder time recovering from their wounds, statistically, they were exceptions like himself of course, but a bookworm like him is born even rarer than a purple dragon. The essential fact here was that healing comes harder with age, it was sad, but also natural.

What was tragic to see, and very much swaying on the border of catastrophe, was the evident and willful dive into decadence of the young, ones who should be the future of the upcoming generations and shake off the troubles of the past, they should be the living evidences that healing is possible and in their shadow rest of the world follows.

The wind dragon, the living, breathing young hope to bring back a specie that was unrighteous extinct had no spark of determination in him, no desire to see the world in brightest colors.

So much decadence in such a young heart was painful to look at.

"Such quality of being mordant doesn't conjoin with your inherited idiosyncrasy" Volteer noted sadly, his usually vibrant tone slowing its pace, showing evidently its distress

"I had no idea being realistic was a perk of the old" Cloudas' feathers bent under the blunt pressure of his words, absorbing the impact as if the spoken sentence was a threatening gust of wind

"I fear that your cognition lost the mental and moral hallmarks considered wonted and desirable to acknowledge the frangible boundary between being realistic and melancholic" the Electric Guardian noted gloomily, moved by the lack of energy in someone so young, future generations should flourish with life and passion, otherwise all these years of war were for nothing

"No offense, but your opinion hardly matter" the wind drake the words away dismissively "it's nice that you grew up relatively smart and into a society that drools over dragons. Not everyone was so lucky some had to aspire to become noticeable" his claw once again began to twist the fake star around "That pressure is very eye opening, wish you get the chance to see it still, maybe then you'll stop this comedy of leadership"

Volteer nodded, out of politeness than agreement, arguing was not in his blood, he rather have friends than enemies and the wind dragon was doing everything to become the latter. In a clash of arguments the idea is to listen to what your opponent has to say and if enlightenment is what you seek than you have to keep your mind open to house the more acceptable ideas of your debater. Progress is a matter of trail and error, be it conversation or experiments.

The sad thing about this building debate was the lack of any arguments on the field from his opponents side, Cloudas' views were poisoned, tainted with past experience that left a lasting mark on him that can't be healed by advice or medicine, if a cure is what he seeks, then he has to find it himself.

He can only offer directions, subtly nudging the drake onto the course that leads towards the essence of life. He is no therapist, he did not know how to approach dragons as hostile to arguments as him, all he wished was for progress to happen, he wanted to help the young drake and the scientific methods is what he excels at.

Hopefully it will be enough for Cloudas to lessen his vile approach to life. A subtle nudge sparking hope in the dragon as well as himself, they both needed it. Cloudas will remove some weight from his soul while he will taste the opportunity of regrowth, having a wind dragon on their side was an essential detail after all for the future of their race.

Progress cannot be fed on extermination.

"Please, become less taut and fretting before we begin" Volteer turned towards his scientific workplace, shifting through the tools

Cloudas' eyebrow rose in surprise, the last Guardians who were faced with the truths about their so called leadership didn't take it lightly, to some degree even Volteer protested up above. Yet here, in this den he simply cut off the clash with reality.

Sometimes he wishes he could do the same thing.

It was probably age that plays a part here, after all when you spend living a lie for so long you get used to it and probably deny any signs that it is not what you think it is out of sheer impulse. There would be some who would call it cowardice, but he actually respected the old dragon for that, the electric dragon had something in him that made you like, or at least tolerate him no matter what.

Part of him was glad that the dragon kept his invitation for a quarrel away. Reality is reality, but deep down he felt that if a character like the Guardian would get mad at him then he would cross a border where no second chances can be visible anymore.

He had a hunch he might need one in the future.

Cloudas sighed deeply, his feathers bristling, cravingly tilting forward to taste the big gust of breath that left his throat.

"Yeah, let's leave the debate for later" he flexed his muscles, some parts still remembered the beating he got from Cyril and other hazed people "I had enough fighting for now, let's try fixing something in peace this time"

"Worthy endeavor" Volteer approved his idea very shortly, completely not his style, yet the swaying tail betrayed that this proposition pleased him greatly

To the point that his paws began shuffling through the scientific devices with more verve than before. No matter what one might think about the Electric Guardian, his ability to remain friendly and open minded was praise worthy.

Cloudas cocked his head, the dragon acted as if he didn't know how to hold a grudge.

He ran his toe over the medallion, gazing onto its artificial, childish structure, claw pressing against the shaped like a star piece. So similar to his own markings.

A fake mirror pinpointing at the culprit without casting the reflection.

The welcoming company of the old dragon made him wish that he also possessed the trick of not being able to hold a grudge.

Maybe then he would change the solid star into real glass.

Volteer chirped suddenly, tail swinging so strong that it made his entire body to turn, he stretched out his foreleg proudly, in his paw was a small, red, rather bright long object that resembled chalk from here.

"Remain idle please" without waiting for an answer the electric dragon immediately approached the younger one, reaching forward with the special chalk, ready to press it against the white body

"Not so fast!" Cloudas recoiled from the leg, eyeing the special chalk intently.

"What the hell is that? Will it hurt?"

Volteer rose his paw high, presenting the held object in its full glory.

"A corollary of series of mechanical and chemical operations, imparting physical ease and composure glyph instigator. Oppressive physical or mental suffering is not extant"

Cloudas' eyes grew wide.

"You want to scribble on me? Mark me like the black Shapers mark themselves?"

The Electric Guardian blinked, eyes jumping swiftly from the magical chalk in his paw and the wind dragon, there weren't many words in this world that surprised him, his quick brain usually processed information before they were actually heard by the ears. This time though his head was blank, completely caught by surprise by the question.

"Excuse me?" he mumbled slowly, his normally quickly flapping tongue sliding across the lips lazily, the undesired arduous pace was almost painful

"Glyphs, you said this thing is for making glyphs. Cynder has glyphs like that on her body, it's Shaper kind of magic" he eyed the chalk with big eyes, heart beating with a mix of excitement and fear, was the dragon really thinking that he is worthy of it?

"You sure I can handle it?" he asked despite possessing the answer for the question already, the operation the Guardian was about to commit is obviously based on Shaper tricks, but he would be dumb to believe that it had the same potential, worms like them can only handle a tiny bit of true power

It was still exciting no less, as fake as it may be, at least it made him a little more confident.

Volteer looked upon the special chalk, blinking several times as if seeing it there for the first time. Cloudas' strange recognition of the moment put his thoughts into a swirl as he connected the information he possessed, tying his knowledge together with strings of understanding as a detective does clues when solving a crime.

He found a way to channel elemental energy dwelling in dragons by reading several books, from the clues found in them he invented a device capable of processing Spirit Gems into special writing tools, chalks to be more precise to achieve ways of pinpointing magical energy.

But now when Cloudas mentioned that he recognized the technic, a dragon from years past finding similarities in technics of today, it made him wonder about the destruction of the world and their knowledge about it. How is it possible that he learned the methods from books supposedly written by the brilliant minds of this age that are known by a dragon living before their existence?

And Cynder.

Her body was marked as Cloudas mentioned, all this time however he and everyone else, including the black dragoness, thought that her markings are merely tattoos, branding of the vile and corrupted.

But Cloudas said that they were glyphs, magical markings and if it was true than that meant they were not done there by accident, the books said that for the glyphs to work their intricate design must be dictated by logic, pattern must have a purpose, each shape calls out to something, connects with the world of magic in some way that still eludes his understanding.

Cynder was hatched in their age, she was used as the tool to bring Malefor back, her purpose orchestrated from birth, the markings her scales wear must have fallen under the same rule.

But how is it possible? How the apes knew what glyphs to paint? They are mercenaries, not dedicated to science, it took him long years to possess the knowledge, busy mercenaries would be unable to grasp the knowledge in their active lifespan.

But if not them then who?

Malefor?

He gulped.

It's impossible. It has to be.

The Dark Master was banished, trapped in the Dark Realms, he had no impact on the present, evil of this world was dictated by blind loyalty to him and nothing more.

Or so they said.

What if Malefor planned his downfall from the beginning, planned for Cynder's birth years later after his original defeat? If such a theory is possible then that meant the entire existence of the Realms might be just a stage for a director watching his play unfold.

In that case only one question remained.

Are they taking part in a drama?

"Hello?" Cloudas waved his paw, bouncing up and down to occupy as much of the dragon's sight as possible "Are you there? You have a stroke or something?"

Volteer blinked, shaking away his distracting thoughts, eyes focusing once more on the piece of the magical writing tool, the chalk feeling extremely heavy all of a sudden while also giving off a rancid stench of threatening mystery. He always enjoyed solving puzzles regarding existence, yet the smell the chalk radiated was nothing else but a warning.

A warning that digging deeper might lead to a sinkhole where the stench becomes unbearable, to the point that no sane creature would dare exploring further.

A sign familiar to the no trespassing zone.

All that remained was to find an answer to one single doubt.

Is it really worth forcing your way through the discomfort?

"You know..." Cloudas scratched his fluffy cheeks nervously "I'm starting to have bad feelings about this whole deal. Maybe we wait till you get better? I'm sure I can breathe for a little while longer, nothing happened to me yet, so it won't happen tomorrow either"

The Electric Guardian's eyes sparkled with little thunders as they buried themselves into the magical chalk that he turned in his grasp, its surface reflecting the shocking tongues cracking from the dragon's eyes.

You can't be so sure of tomorrow, not when the one responsible for passing the knowledge of the glyphs could be so close, after all if the world had made a Circle, someone had to predict it happening, plan for it to occur eventually.

The sparkles lashed at the crystal, exploding into a shower of tiny fireflies as they crashed against the crystal surface as if trying to shine their light within and spook whatever thing that tried hiding inside.

Could it be that this dilemma of now was also a part of the otherworldly game of fate? Their actions in this room were also foreseen? Was it even possible?

There was no way to know for certain, for now all that remained was to hold on to the desires and wishes of the present and hope that their actions are their own free will and not some cruel whim of some dead dragon.

Time will come when all of it will be clear, for now all that was left for Volteer to do was to continue to listen to his own beating heart and tricked or not, it told him to assist this young drake.

That was the right thing to do.

Something Malefor was incapable of understanding in his mature years.

Yellow paw gripped the chalk tighter, purple eyes cracking with the last shower of sparks as they blinked.

"This won't be indispensable" he turned towards the wind drake making Cloudas whine faintly when he noticed his determined posture and the way that he gripped the magical writing tool, holding it tight as if it would be a dagger he wanted to sink into his young flesh

"Are you in an apt predicament for my action?"

"I don't think I'll ever be ready" Cloudas sighed deeply, eyes shut tightly every muscle flexed itself to the limit, tail stiffening together with the rest of the limbs "Let's do this" he hissed through clenched teeth

"No highly irksome propensity caused by injury will be existence"

Despite Volteer's assurance that it won't hurt he still whimpered when the magical object touched his scales, the tip pinching his flank, stiff body ravaged by pulses of warmth and cold alternately, pain was building in him, mouth parting to voice a scream of protest.

He promised it wouldn't hurt.

The moment the chalk made another small scratch everything was over, nothing remained but the sensation as if he would be poked with a stick.

A long breath of relief left his mouth when he realized that he imagined it all. It was exactly as Volteer said, absolutely painless.

He expected the yellow dragon to drown him in a stream of words, as of now he didn't strike him like the most silent of types, however the Guardian www completely quiet, he could barely even hear him breathing and if not for his feathers wiggling slightly, sensing gust, he would believe that Volteer was some spectacular diver.

Whatever happened to the dragon held him still, the drake's purple eyes were squinted, bright and full of focus, looking at least several hundred years younger than their owner. It was good actually, while he still doubted the Guardian's capabilities, or what's more probable, didn't hold them in high regard since he's no Shaper, this palpable focus gave him some amount of comfort though, it was simply impossible to fake something like that.

He would know.

He wasn't a beginner liar after all.

Volteer painted intricate designs on the young scales, their strong structure allowing him to progress rater quickly, each line was done with great care, the crystal leaving red traces behind on the body, each stroke perfectly measured, no detail skipped. He kept staring at the wind dragon yet his eyes could not recognize the drake, his imagination presenting the pages of the books he read before him, each velvety page showing the symbol he had to draw.

His paw was trailing the features, copying it through a page that only existed inside his head. Volteer's memory was flawless, as a walking lore book he had no troubles replicating the lines, the glyphs were made of all shapes, easy lines, to annoyingly small figures, rectangles, circles and much, much more.

One such glyph resembled a flower from a distance.

In was there, in the bud of that special flower, where the magic inside the drake will be channeled, the glyphs allowing to gaze at it as if it would be a rock sitting at the bottom of a crystal clear fountain.

A perfectly planned future.

Oh irony, how little is needed to deal the cards in the game of Fate.

"It is completed" Volteer announced, pulling his head back, examining the artistic patterns as if it would be a genius painter criticizing his own work

It was a small sketch in comparison to Cynder's markings, more detailed but smaller even than the tattoos underlining her eyes. Now when looking at his work he changed his mind about the glyphs looking like a flower, to him it was a small conifer and the point in the middle he took for a flower bud previously now looked like a hollow.

Cloudas looked himself over, seeing only some red lines, not even able to get a glimpse of the whole marking, still the traces the gem left were far more brighter than any red dragon's scale he had seen in this city. Besides that there was nothing exciting about this whole thing, making him think that they are wasting their time here.

"Alright" he noted indifferently "What now?"

Volteer leaned forward, breathing a tiny spark of electricity right at the markings.

Cloudas gasped when the glyphs exploded with a yellow light, the illumination bursting forward like a hand snatching the electrical bolt just to return moments later into the drawing again. After this short explosion the red lines were no longer the same, the same bolt that was sent flying at it was now a part of the glyph, wiggling inside its drawn lines like a worm.

The light it was casting was so strong that it painted a shadow on the nearby wall, what was surprising was the fact that his shadow was empty exactly where the red markings were as if his flesh would be cut out, all he could see was the shadow of the magical worm, thrashing around widely.

He immediately threw glances between his flank and the visible shadow, impulsively and quickly, panic was starting to build up in him, mind incapable of processing such an unrealistic process, his eyes darting back and forth just to retain his sanity.

With all the powers of his thoughts he tried to convince himself that it was just an illusion, his body was intact and the dark picture on the wall is nothing more than a trick of this special ritual. It worked to some degree, he didn't scream his lungs out, yet he didn't calm his stress entirely either, mind naturally trying to overcome the serenity with thoughts of danger, trying to warn him that there was a sleazy parasite devouring him.

He kinda wished now that it hurt..

"Say something Volteer because I'm starting to freak out. What is going on?" Cloudas' tongue wiggled quickly, words spurted from his mouth with the speed of a talking electric dragon

The Guardian's mouth impulsively twitched at the sound of the swift sizzle of letters.

"Your quiddity is being directed towards a distinct end, when the faculty of apparently influencing calamities by using inexplicable vehemence will settle in it will show us all of its innumerable subatomic constituents of the physical world that interrelate with each other. In time immemorial this is how people distinguished their elements when the proclamations of the universe were still an enigma"

"Soooo, in short I will glow like a fireplace when this thing finds the stuff that sits inside me?"

Volteer nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes!"

Cloudas gazed upon his broken shadow once more, letting out a tired sigh, the people of the ancient times were really primitive when they came up with this thing.

Or perhaps they are the ones being limited, using the same technique that was mastered eons ago.

The worm stopped wiggling suddenly, moment later a bright yellow light filled the painted hollow, casting a beam upon the wall that evaporated the shadow in an instant, just to slink back into his frame seconds later.

When everything returned to normal there was no longer any solid shadow visible on the wall, whatever light the glyphs were giving was gone.

"Did it work?" Cloudas stretched and twisted, trying to get a good looking angle at his flank, but unfortunately for him he could find none

Volteer frowned deeply, gazing upon the picture he had drawn, his mind sorting through the pages of the many books he read about the experiment and he remembered that none of them mentioned the spark being completely devoured, without showing any signs of stored magic.

He turned around sorting through the nearby book quickly, desperately trying to find the information he missed, and he missed something definitely, guilt was stirred by Cloudas' questions and as leading scientist in this experiment he couldn't give a disappointing answer.

And then when his paw was about to turn the page he froze, tail making small kicks.

The spark was devoured.

Something inside Cloudas had feasted on elemental magic.

This thought made his eyes go wide, if this theory is true and he felt deep down that it was, then worries about the wind drake's limited lifespan weren't just an overreaction.

The dragon was living on borrowed time, he kept breathing probably only by miracle or some other wicked plan envisioned by the twist in his life that stripped him of his elemental magic.

Volteer's tail kicked, tip hatching the handle of a nearby drawer, pulling it open as he turned. His paw dived quickly, removing some green object from inside which he immediately placed on his workstation, pulling close all the nearby scientific devices, from some needles, to funny looking hammers and all other sorts of stuff Cloudas couldn't find a name for.

Soft screeching began to fill the room, green shards flying to the sides as the Guardian obviously cut into the object. The hurled, glassy remains indicating that what he was holding was probably an another gem, the crystalline pieces serving as a blunt indication of the material's origins.

Cloudas started to become nervous once more, part of him wishing to look at the creepy shadow again, yet his thoughts couldn't shift from the memories of the past. With teeth pressed tightly against the lips his toes began to rub the star shaped medallion, this time though he didn't want to run, this time he felt that salvation was right in this room.

He was becoming nervous because this was the second time he realized that he was fooled, when he believed that he cured himself of naivety the consequence of his stupidity strikes again. They warned him, books and people told him to stay away, but his idiotic desire to feel worthy and important led him to disaster after disaster.

And the cunning backstabber only waited for the right moment, cherishing his victory and laughing about his blind idiocy.

He could feel that his struggle was for naught, after learning he is just an ant he tried to stay away from the echelons of society trying to be himself, mundane and boring and yet despite it all it seemed like he was a plaything all this time.

The motherfucking freak having his way with him all along.

Volteer finished his work, blowing off the remaining shards and all other waste away from the crystal, he turned around, holding the green gem in paw, its end polished into a small spike.

Cloudas looked into the apologetic snout of the Guardian, he knew what was coming and how sad Volteer felt about it. This green tip is going to pierce his scales.

"This will-"

"Do it" the wind drake cut the Guardian off, the confident rumble of the voice threw the electric Guardian off

He quickly recovered however, carefully tilting the gem so it pointed right at the painted spot, he gazed on the young dragon again, looking for another confirmation.

The stern gaze of the green eyes gave him more than one.

He swallowed and delicately touched the scale, crunching it under the weight. Cloudas remained silent. He exhaled swiftly and gave the gem a gentle punch, the tip pierced the scale and sank into the flesh, hollowly, loose wound crying tears of blood slowly.

The wind drake bit his lips, pain to a dragon is as common as bread for the people, but the problem was that no matter how prepared and resistant you are to it, it still hurts. Cloudas noted that evidently by hissing through his clenched teeth.

Volteer whined softly, he was never a real follower of draconic dogma, pain was something he never got used to, let alone when he was the one causing it. Still such actions were necessary considering the young drake's condition, with his elemental energy being depleted he would never be able to channel with the Spirit Gem.

The glyphs together with the direct insertion of the gem will help to reach the terrifying force capable of depleting essence from a dragon.

His yellow paw grabbed onto the other end of the crystal, the green gem immediately flared up, transmitting energy, instead of the elemental power stored within moving towards him though, the glyphs dragged the magic back into the focusing point painted on the young scales.

The spot started to grow brightly, making Cloudas gasp with a jerk so sharp that the goggles fell down from his head. His eyes bulged, green pupils beginning to glow together with the crystal. His body filled with a long forgotten sensation he never thought he would miss so much ever again.

Wind.

The breeze filled him from the inside, making his memories throw him back to when he was a child, when the time came to beat his strong wings and lift himself to the sky for the very first time in life. He could never forget the noise of the wind whipping at his snout as he soared, the cold, echoing howl that made him shudder uncontrollably as if you would be standing at the mouth of a cave invaded by the winds of the mountains.

His wings automatically opened, feathers spreading excitedly, showing their beautiful shapes in full glory, even Volteer had to take a step back to take in the painting worthy sight completely.

The familiar shudder quaked his frame, filling his eyes with longing tears, in that breeze he could sense the comforting cries of his little sister and Wind itself crying in relief after so long apart, finally reunited, after so many years, so many mistakes, he finally made a step forward.

Then came a fierce bolt of sheer agony, Cloudas cried out loudly, paws losing every pinch of strength, making him drop on the floor, the wings were dragged so sharply down that several broke free, floating down lazily onto the floor. The wind filling him dispersed, as if it would crush against a massive, impassable mountainside.

Volteer's eyes widened, at first he wanted to support the young drake, but then the painted spot as well as the gem started to lose colors, becoming grey as if an infection would be spreading across them. A tendril of it shot right across the held crystal, the tip nipped his toes, the dragon winced when suddenly a burning sensation exploded across his paw.

As if something would bit him.

This was not an infection, but a parasite, whatever magical force was planted into Cloudas it does nothing else but feed on the elemental energy, leaving just enough to keep the host alive. This alone was enough to come to a conclusion that this was not an accident, the parasite's limitations were there for a purpose and whoever made it decided to toy with Cloudas a little more before finally pressing the switch that will end it all.

This parasite was provoked now, eager to devour more of the energy.

Volteer immediately reached into the drawer, picking up several more of the green gems, each flashing brightly when he started to sip energy from them. The parasite was unprepared for the incoming surge, the light of the gems pushed it back inside the glyph marked cage, Cloudas' wings began to pump like a heart when more and more elemental energy filled him.

The young dragon's eyes glowing like true emeralds when his mouth parted in a silent scream.

The cage suddenly pulsed, the grey parasite bursting furiously, its splash eating away at the scales, breaking the barrier of glyphs with a hissing sound like an eating wood acid. It spread swiftly along the locked into the body crystal, reaching Volteer's paw in an instant.

He roared painfully, feeling as if his paw would be chopped off. He jerked back instinctively, the strong impulse throwing him back, making him dislodge the gem from the body, gem that was nothing more than glass now, empty and black.

The stretch of the parasite was cut short, it fell down together with the gem, writhing inside the glass until it eventually exploded, the scary magic hissing away from existence like acid, the rest sunk back into the young body, spreading again out of focus since the glyphs were broken.

"Fuck!" Cloudas grunted, his claws digging into the floor, chest heaved heavily, eyes bulging, stream of drool stretched out from his panting mouth

"Did it work?" he turned towards the Guardian, feeling as if his ribs were stabbing him in every nerve

Volteer opened his mouth to voice the result which meant nothing else but defeat, the parasite returned after all from where it came. The moment however he laid eyes upon the pained sight of the wind dragon he noticed a slight difference in his orbs, he spent enough time around crystals lately to notice such a thing.

One of his green eyes was brighter than the other.

Whatever wicked magic housed itself inside Cloudas was still there and it looked like it won't be going away any time soon, he feared that there was nothing he can do to help the young drake, this curse can only be lifted by the one who created it.

This didn't mean absolute defeat however.

The spark in the dragon's eye was evidence that this ritual had an effect on the parasite, while it defended itself against the invasion effectively, the surprising attack caught it unaware, letting part of the elemental magic slip inside. While it won't allow the drake to reach his full potential, he will be lucky to achieve even the basic level with such meager reserves, it gave him hope to survive the effect of the kill order when he will bore whoever rules over him.

Part of the elemental force he injected managed to slip in and the parasite clearly did not notice it, obviously not created for defensive purposes.

"It did" Volteer confirmed, after all restoring Cloudas' elemental energy was never a goal here, it was all about the drake's limited lifespan

The wind drake frowned, being skeptical about it all since he felt no different than before. He wanted to present his objections, inhaling deeply to show his disappointment. When he let the breath out he kicked off several vials from the workbenches in front of him lungs stinging funnily.

Feathers rattled happily, stretching out, craving for the touch of the gust.

Was that wind?

Volteer looked back at the broken vials and their spilled content, his mouth stretching into a content smile which only grew bigger when he turned towards the young dragon and noticed his wide eyed, completely shocked expression.

Whatever was nesting inside Cloudas is not of their world, a forbidden magic capable of stripping power from a dragon, very dangerous weapon to face if it gets wielded by the wrong hands. The positive notion about it all was that they managed to conquer a bit of the cursed territory for themselves.

Knowing the wicked rules of Fate, this parasite will come to them sooner or later, craving to be fed, unaware that they will have their defenses ready. It's like an illness, at first you need to find a remedy for it, to hold it back to eventually discover the means for a cure.

And he had a feeling that this curse is another aspect of the plan of whatever director holding reign over the Realms. A director with one crucial flaw.

Blind to the fact that they learn to adapt.

Blind to the simple fact that if you have a problem and bring someone who has no knowledge about it he might eventually find a solution for it.

This is progress.