FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Well hey guys long time no post or something like that, i hope you all enjoy this new chapter i sure enjoyed writing it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'What does he think he's doing?' Skylar thought, calmly knocking Ian's punch to the side and driving his knee into the other human's side. Ian gasped out the impact, winded and stepping back a little, but tried his best to recover and swing at the redhead again. "You're going to have to do much better than that." The attack never reached, as a hand clamped down on Ian's wrist and Skylar moved up to be face to face with Ian again. 'He's got nothing special about him, this close and touching him I can feel his essence. There's nothing, did he really produce that fire?' Frowning at the thought, Skylar scoffed at the pitiful, frightened look on Ian's face before he backhanded the other human.

Ian simply spun and dropped to the floor, groaning, already weak from Skylar's previous blows. "What do you want?" he managed to say, voice cracking.

"I want to kill a certain someone," Skylar said, looking down at Ian with a conflicted look on his face. Was Ian really linked with him? Could he really be one of his sons? At the thought Sylar flinched, the unwanted memories that weren't his flooding through him for a moment. "And I want to know if you're going to get me closer to them or not." Actually growling now, Skylar gripped the front of Ian's shirt and yanked him into a sitting position. "So tell me Ian...WHO the fuck are you?"

"My name is Ian Sheridan, I'm a nobody from Earth who found Kai and got brought here with him," Ian said, definite sob in his voice. The cruelty of the past few days, combined with everything Skylar was doing, just made him want to curl up with Kai and never come out again. "That's all, I swear!"

"So why can't I believe that?!" Skylar yelled, pulling Ian up so that he could look him dead in the eye. "Why can't I believe you? Why does everything about you make my soul scream out for your death?" Skylar knew he was crossing a line; Ian wasn't the one that he wanted, but he couldn't help it. Ever since they had mentioned that fire, everything about the human had been striking a familiar chord, he even smelled like the dragon for Christ's sake. "Why do you remind me of him?"

"Skylar, please," Ian said, practically begging. "I don't know who you're talking about, I just want to be with Kai, I swear, you don't have to see me again!"

'Never see me again'. Was that want he wanted, to be rid of Ian? No. Under different circumstances he could easily see himself being good friends with Ian, but...

"Do it again..." Skylar growled out, gripping Ian's shirt so hard his hands were shaking. "That fire, show it to me!"

"I can't!" Ian shouted, flat out sobbing at this point. "Skylar, listen to me, I can't! I don't know how to!"

Skylar looked at the honesty in Ian's eyes before he bowed his head, long hangs of red hair shadowing his face from the other human.

"You'd better learn." With that the redhead dropped Ian and glared down at him. "You said before that your life was on the line... well the same thing applies." Skylar let the full brunt of his aura drop down on Ian as the magic around him became visible. "I'll kill you if you don't."

Realising that Skylar had lost it, Ian just broke. The human curled up, covering his face as if it would somehow protect him, quietly calling out for Kai.

"Ian, I'm serious." Skylar snarled, reaching down to grab the human again before a large red tail slammed into his chest and threw him into the side of the house. The owner of the tail moved to stand over Ian protectively.

"Skylar, what are you doing to Ian?" The sheer calmness in Kai's voice at the situation grabbed Skylar's attention better than any snarl could have done. The redhead shakily got back up onto his feet. His ribs were shaken from the impact, but nothing was broken thanks to his magic flaring around him.

"Stay out of my way Kai."

Ian quickly scrambled up to his feet, hugging Kai's back leg and literally trembling as he looked at the redhead. "Kai, we need to go," he whimpered. "Just fly somewhere, anywhere but here." Pure terror flowed through Ian as he looked at Skylar drawing closer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Fear?" A voice spoke in the darkness of a cave, the only sounds a bubbling hot spring and the pour of rain out of the mouth of the cave. "Why is he afraid?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kai took one look at Ian before snarling in Skylar's direction.

"Is that alright with you, Skylar?" The dragon asked mockingly as he moved to cover Ian with more of his body. "If we just leave?"

"Hell no," Skylar whispered glaring at the dragon now in his way, for a second the bright red scales turned black and Skylar was clutching his head a pain lanced through it. "Diachta." The name slipped past his lips before he could stop it and lightning began circling his body as his magic began taking form.

"Kai, please, just get out of here!" Ian shouted, flinching as he felt the rush of magic in the area, terrified for Kai's safety rather than his own. Ian's head pulsed at Skylar's whispered word, perceptible even above his other aches and pains.

"As if I'd just let you run now!" Skylar screamed, clutching his head as it throbbed again. The longer he looked at Ian and the more magic he used the more his head hurt, but he still didn't understand why. The memories floating around in his head didn't seem to make any sense. Why was he seeing a floating cage and shooting stars when he looked at Ian?

Growling in pain and irritation, Skylar brought his other hand up and smirked when the lightning surrounding him broke apart into magic particles and began to absorb into his entire body. It seemed like nothing had happened to the naked eye but others could only look on in horror.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back in the house the other students were all in various positions on the floor unable to move due to Skylar's aura pressing down on them. None of them had had any training in resisting aura's yet not even Michael, though the gryphon was able to pull himself up onto the counter and look at the fight going on outside.

"Shit, he's mastered Acuo already?" Michael whispered trying and failing to fight the aura pressing down on him. "Crap, Ian, Kai... just run."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Kai, move!" Ian yelled, realising that Skylar was channeling something as he tried to reach the other human, wanting to keep Kai out of danger.

"No, I'm going to protect my friend!" Kai growled, but even with that determination the dragon dropped his weight into the ground and prepared himself. Termal had given him some basic lessons on how best to fight as a dragon but he had no idea what Skylar was planning, and from that grin he was planning something!

"That's a good attitude to have Kai," Skylar said, some of his anger and frustration apparently drained away after whatever he did, but in it's place was arrogance. Kai tensed up when it looked like Skylar was going to make a move, but could only gasp when the redhead seemed to blur from his vision. "However," Kai's head whirled around when Skylar voice came from behind him and gaped when he saw the redhead standing just behind Ian. "You're just in my way."

Ian yelped at seeing Skylar, sprinting back towards Kai, whole body trembling with fear.

Kai stood frozen in place for a moment as he stared at Skylar, how had he moved that fast? It was impossible, humans couldn't move that fast even with magic, it would tear them apart. Old lady Cara had tried to teach him a little before she died and he knew that much! Broken out of his trance by Ian's whimpers, Kai acted out of desperation and summoned a stream of fire from inside of him ignoring the way Skylar just cocked an eyebrow at him.

Kai thought for a moment that he had caught the human, until he felt a hand touch atop his head and a presence that was distinctly Skylar's. He wondered what the redhead was about to do but froze when he heard Ian's frightened yelp from beside him. "IAN!"

Moving as fast as he could a snarl already at the back of his throat Kai froze again when he saw Skylar stood staring at him at least a dozen meters away, with Ian on his knees before him, and a hand placed atop the frightened human's head.

"Now what will you do, dragon?"

"Just get away from him Kai!" Ian shouted, trying to hold back the sobbing noises as he saw the dragon's furious expression. "He wants you to attack!"

"And what would you do if I told you I was waiting for something else Ian?" Skylar asked quietly, glancing down much more calmly than before at the other human.

"Waiting for what?" Ian asked, sniffling and trying to look up at Skylar. "Just let me go!"

"Ironically, another dragon," Skylar said before he felt a strange sensation overcome the hand resting on Ian's head. "What the?.. ARUGH!" Out of nowhere, another tail crashed into Skylar's back, making the redhead cry out in agony before he was sent flying from the impact and sent crashing and bouncing across the ground until sliding to a stop just before the tree line surrounding the house almost a hundred meters away.

"Are you okay, Ian?"

Ian turned and looked up, a small whimper escaping his mouth at the enormous, black feral dragon towering over him. The voice made the ground rumble around him, red eyes staring deeply into his as the long tail swished back and forth, larger than even Termal. Then Ian felt a huge spike of pain in his head, yelling out and almost collapsing, clutching at his head as it felt like something was clawing out of his brain.

"Ian!" Kai cried, ignoring the dragon that had just saved his friend's life as he went to see if Ian was hurt anywhere. He only spared a brief glance in Skylar's direction to see if the redhead was still moving and suddenly had mixed feelings when he caught sight and scent of the blood littering the ground where Skylar had slid to a stop and was no longer moving. "Are you okay? What's wrong with your head?" Kai started panicking when Ian didn't reply, but relaxed when the clearly older dragon came into his view.

"Sorry, whelps, but that's my fault." The dragon chuckled as he pressed his snout into Ian's hair and let some of his magic flow through into the other human.

Ian gave a small grunt at the contact, then his eyes flew open, looking up at the new dragon with confusion, but the fear was gone from his eyes. "Diachta," he murmured, then blinked and smiled broadly. "You came back for me." Ian practically flung himself forward, hugging the dragon tight around the neck and burying his face against the scales there.

"Ian?" Kai asked, looking up at the dragon that the human was hugging. He would be lying if he said that he didn't feel a stab of jealousy run through him at the affection Ian was showing, even if they knew each other.

"IAN!" All seven of the other recruits came running from the house, their attention fixed solely on Ian, apart from Shiro, who stopped to look at Skylar for a second before running over to Ian.

"What the hell is going on?" Cayden demanded, looking from Ian, to Diachta to Skylar who had yet to move. "Is Skylar dead?"

"Who gives a shit!?" Josh yelled, throwing his hands in the redhead's direction. "He's clearly fucking insane!"

"Skylar?" Diachta asked looking towards the downed human with a frown. "So that's his name."

"Skylar went crazy and attacked me about my fire, but...I remember! I remember now!" Ian stepped back, still grinning up at the black dragon. "The night near Fortis with the shooting stars...you kept your promise."

"Should I know you, brother?" Termal asked Diachta carefully. He was grateful to the other dragon, but he couldn't help but remember what James and Hale had both said to them the day that they arrived. Was this dragon an enemy? He had never seen him before and the Ignitus clan wasn't overly large.

"No you don't, but don't worry about it whelp, I'm a friend... Ah well, mostly," Diachta said, glancing towards Skylar with a slight frown on his muzzle. He felt like he should know that one as well. Shaking those thoughts out of his head, Diachta smiled down at Ian and nuzzled him slightly. "Yes I did promise, but you didn't go and make it easy for me did you, coming all the way here of all places. I thought I told you to stay put?"

The other recruits just stared at the interaction, unable to comprehend what was going on. They were all sure that Ian had told them that he had never met another dragon aside from Kai before coming to Terra, yet here he was, speaking to the one that had knocked Skylar to the ground, possibly even killed him, like they were long lost friends or something.

"Ian," Shiro barked, getting everyone's attention, before spearing the human with a look that demanded answers. "What's going on?"

"Can't stay put when you erase my memories, can I?" Ian chuckled, flicking Diachta's nose before looking to Shiro. "I found Diachta back on earth. He'd been wrongfully imprisoned, so I freed him, he took me near Fortis, then after we spent some time together he promised to come get me when he could."

"Well I guess it would be difficult to do as you're told when I..

"Wrongfully?" Everyone froze and turned towards the source of the voice just as Skylar was lifting himself off of the floor his back turned to them. "Wrongfully, what a joke." As he turned towards them most of them gasped when they saw what had happened to Skylar. At some point during his landing something had cut cleanly into Skylar face, and now a ragged open wound running own his forehead and through his left eye. The entire left hand side of the recruit face was dripping with blood.

"That's impossible," Diachta gasped as he took in the boys appearance, red hair, blue eyes and that aura that reminded him so much of... "So you survived."

"Ian, you're standing next to a god damn MONSTER?" Skylar screamed, his aura skyrocketing again as he managed to stand on his own two feet again. Instead of attacking though Skylar turned his rage filled gaze onto the dragon. "Surprised to see me huh? So what? Was it before or after you slaughtered my family that you got all chummy with Ian?"

Ian looked nervously at Skylar, then back at Diachta, slowly moving to press against the large black dragon for protection. "He's crazy," Ian said, shaking his head. "Diachta wouldn't do that. Would you?"

"I did," Diachta admitted, earning himself a series of shocked expressions. "And it was after Ian helped me escape my prison."

"You... what?" Cayden asked taking a step back from the dragon at the thought of it, the wolf actually growled a little as the answer sunk in. "You murdered his family?"

"His mother and father, all of his grandparents, his younger and older brother along with several other relatives and friends," Skylar just gaped at the dragon. How could he admit to it all so casually? How could he talk about it like he was just brushing it aside. "About twenty in total I think."

Ian looked up at Diachta, flickers of horror, confusion and disbelief all running across his face. "But...you had a good reason. Right?"

"Good reason?," Ana shouted glancing back and forth between Ian and Diachta like he was mad. "Christ, Ian, he just admitted to killing Skylar's entire family! What reason could he have?"

"You poor child," Diachta sighed, giving Skylar a sympathetic look as he ignored the conversation going on around him. "You still don't know what he was doing..."

"DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" Skylar screamed, his magical aura picking up so much that it began to create a strong wind around the redhead.

"Where has he learnt all of this?" Josh gaped having to throw up an arm to shield his eyes.

"You don't learn this," Michael said, already pulling Ana and Cayden away from Diachta. "That's pure magical force. I'd get out of their way guys."

"Ian?" Kai asked shyly, unsure why Ian was suddenly acting like he wasn't there any more. "I don't think we should get in their way."

"No, Kai, this is a misunderstanding. It has to be," Ian said flatly. "Diachta saved my life, I...there has to be something missing here!" There was a touch of desperation in the human's voice as he looked between Skylar and Diachta.

"Misunderstanding?" Skylar scoffed at Ian before looking to Diachta again. "Is there?"

"Let me explain, Skylar."

"Explain," Skylar's aura dropped for a moment and the look in his eyes seemed to calm, but Diachta tensed up and growled quietly, there went his last chance for a peaceful outcome.

"Ian, Kai go over with the others," Diachta ordered, watching as Skylar seemed to mutter to himself. Skylar was too far gone in his own rage to even consider talking about this. Who puts a clearly traumatised child onto active duty without anyone to talk to? Skylar was a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off! "Now, go!"

Ian looked between the two one last time, before backing off with Kai, having just about enough sense left in him to realise being in the middle of what was about to happen would be bad.

"Explain... Explain?" Skylar muttered looking at his hand as the blood from his face dripped down onto it. "You murdered my parents." Skylar looked up at the dragon his eyes free of any and all doubt or hesitation. "You butchered my brothers." The very air seemed to electrify Skylar's long hair began to spike out as tiny arcs of electricity went off within it. "You slaughtered my friends!" The area around Skylar began to crack and splinter as his magic aura exploded out from him again the oppressive weight taking effect on everything. "You destroyed my home! WHY! Because you had a grudge against one MAN!"

"Skylar..." The redhead didn't even listen as Diachta tried to talk again instead he just created a spear out of thin air and hurled it so hard that it created a sonic boom. "Creation?" Diachta reacted out of instinct and hurled up a pitch black barrier around himself that the spear shattered itself upon. Skylar just smirked however and made a strange hand motion. The shattered pieces of the spear disassembled into magical particles and gathered above Diachta into several smaller blades out of the dragons line of sight.

The dragon merely turned his head and smacked them aside with his massive tail. He smirked as he felt the air and magic shift in front of him though.

"You need to move a lot faster, child." Without even looking, Diachta raised a front paw and slammed down on Skylar who had made a mad rush towards the dragon the moment he turned his head. The dragon turned back and grunted in pain when lightning seemed to explode outwards from Skylar however. The dragon let up on his paw, but brought his tail around to knock Skylar away from him again and sent the redhead flying away from the strength of the impact. 'Damn, both my paw and tail are numb, that's a frightening thing for someone his age to be able to do.'

Skylar tumbled head over heels from the strike until he managed to get his feet under him again and growled in the dragon's direction.

"Would you two just stop?" Ian yelled, practically rushing back in before Kai grabbed his torso with his tail to stop him. Seeing that appeal fail, he turned to Diachta instead, the dragon poised for battle. "Don't kill him!"

'I am trying!' Diachta thought, wondering how he was going to beat Skylar without killing him. The brat had enough magical reserves to keep going for hours at the rate that they were going. If he tried to end it, however, Skylar would resist it and probably end up dying in the process.

Growling at the predicament Diachta slammed a paw to the ground and summoned up two streams of black fire that began rushing towards the redhead. Skylar flinched at the sight of the flames but jumped over them when they reached him and made to rush Diachta again. He frowned though when the flames actually detached themselves from the ground and rushed back towards him.

'Got you,' Diachta thought, watching as Skylar dodged the two streams of fire as they came at him again and again creating something close to a cage around the redhead as he thought of a way to stop the fire. 'When there's enough fire I can create a full dome and just suck the oxygen out.' Content in his plan, Diachta jumped in astonishment when Skylar created a sword and stuck it in the ground to stop the fire from moving forward, but he didn't stop there and created a pair of spears to 'lock' the fire in place so that it couldn't move. 'How did he...?' Diachta knew that in that form the fire was more like rope than actual fire, so it could be stopped like Skylar just did, hell the kid had pinned it to the ground, but how had he figured it out so quickly?

"Smart bastard," the dragon growled, preparing himself as Skylar rushed him another long sword in his hands already. Diachta caught the strike in a paw before it even had a chance to connect, and tore the sword away from Skylar. The redhead didn't seem fazed in the slightest however, even though Diachta caught the wince of pain as his arms were yanked harshly from his weapon being removed. Still, he came forward, hands sparking with lightning that set Diachta on edge. The dragon swept at Skylar with a paw and jumped into the air when he rolled to the side to get out of the way of the strike.

Using the momentary opening where Skylar had to catch his weight from the roll, Diachta let loose a stream of regular fire from his maw and was shocked when Skylar moved away from it and came straight at him once again.

'Kid's using Acuo so well that I can't hit him with anything less than serious,' Diachta thought, as he growled and deliberately swung his tail over Skylar's head to get him to duck before he swatted the boy away from him with a heavy paw strike that sent him flying once again.

Frowning at the heavy metallic scent of blood in the air Diachta risked a glance around the area where Skylar had been standing before and all the patches where he had been sent flying and just around their battleground in general... There was a lot of blood... A lot.

How is he still standing?!' Diachta gaped at the human as Skylar slowly stood back up, a little wobbly, but considering the condition that he should have been in he was the picture of health.

It was only when the human looked up at him that Diachta had a thought and one that made him want to hit himself. His essence, in the past all the people that he had 'gifted' with his essence had always had faster healing than others, Skylar had to have his essence considering what happened back then.

"No wonder you're still able to fight," the dragon muttered, but shook his head and relaxed, if Skylar did have his essence inside of him then this fight was over. Skylar saw his stance relax and immediately bristled in anger and created another sword in his hands. "Enough Skylar." Diachta called, reaching out with his essence to try and link with the part that was inside of Skylar.

"Enough?" Skylar hissed glaring at the dragon that he wasn't stupid enough to think wasn't throwing him around like some kind of rag doll. Was he really just going to dismiss him like this. "You don't just get to say enough after all of..." Skylar gasped out in shock and clutched at his chest as Diachta's essence began to spread around inside of him.

"It's over."

"Over?" Shiro asked taking slow steps forward towards Diachta but clearly had his eyes on Skylar as the human seemed to be refusing to drop to his knees despite whatever was going on inside of him.

"He has no way to stop what's happening to him," Diachta confirmed, but even with the fight won he refused to take his eyes off of Skylar. He would not turn away from this boy's suffering that he had caused, he would endure it and take responsibility for what happened. He just hoped that Skylar wouldn't be swallowed by his hate and rage.

Finally dropping to one knee Skylar let his sword drop to the ground as he clutched at his chest.. He had no idea what was going on, but he could feel Diachta's essence swimming around inside of him, trying to spread to every part of his body and he was resisting it but it hurt worse than anything he had ever endured in his life. It felt like there was a fire in his veins, like each and every one of his nerves were being set ablaze and it wasn't just physical, he could 'feel' Diachta in his head. He wasn't saying anything or making any noise, but he was there and a feeling of pity and remorse that clearly wasn't Skylar's was spreading through him.

"Not like this," Skylar ground out despite the agony, and somehow managed to push himself back up onto his feet. What he didn't realised was the blood that started to pour from his ears and nose from his struggling. His own magic was having a small war with Diachta's inside of his body, and it was taking its toll.

"No, fuck this," Ian growled, shoving his way past Kai and up to Skylar, hands outstretched to try and heal him. "Hold still. And you!" He whirled to look at Diachta. "Stay away!"

Diachta took effect immediately, dropping his battle inside of Skylar and taking a few steps back, but didn't let his gaze turn anywhere else.

Skylar let his gaze drop from the dragon and settled on Ian as he tried to help him, he couldn't help but remember how not even an hour earlier he had been beating on his comrade to try and reach a conclusion like this.

"Sorry Ian," Skylar chuckled, despite the fact that he could now taste blood in his mouth and was finally feeling his legs start to give out. "Didn't... want to... hurt..." Skylar didn't fall very far though as Shiro and Cayden were at the redhead's side to catch him and gently lay him on the floor.

"Kai, get over here!" Shiro screamed, even though the dragon was already halfway to the redhead that seemed to be bleeding from everywhere at once. Diachta wanted to go and make sure that the kid didn't die; he didn't have healing magic but with his essence inside of Skylar he should be able to help them, but that decision was taken away when Termal, Michael, Josh and Ana blocked the dragon's path. Even knowing that he could push his way past, the look in their eyes made Diachta back down.

"Kai, work on him." Ian looked through the crowd, locking eyes with Diachta. "We need to talk. Now."

"Ian," Michael whispered, his eyes still locked firmly on the dragon that had basically invaded their home. "He could kill us all, be careful." The gryphon's claws were twitching just following the dragon's eyes as he looked between the various recruits. It was like staring death in the face and wondering if it was your time. The dragon's presence was simply so powerful.

Kai slapped Ian with his tail lightly and sent him a look that said much along the same lines, before getting back to work on Skylar. Luckily there didn't seem to be anything major aside from the sheer amount of stress that his body had been under from all the magical exertion that he had forced out of himself.

"If you want to talk," Diachta said, leaving the sentence open as he wandered away from the others, but made sure that he was still in a direct line of sight of Skylar and Kai.

Ian followed after him, hands shaking a little from everything that had happened before they got out of earshot. "What the hell was that?" he hissed, looking into the dragon's red eyes questioningly. "They're my friends! You're scaring them!"

"Things didn't look very friendly when I arrived," Diachta pointed out, before he brushed that point aside and looked back towards Skylar. "It was self defence and he won't die... I hope."

"He'd better not," Ian sighed, shaking his head. "Things have been complex enough since I got here, and now this happens..." He looked up to see Diachta staring blankly at him, then gave a little chuckle and smiled. "I should be furious, but you don't know how good it is to see you. Even like this."

"You too, little one," Diachta chuckled before he looked over at Skylar again, "Poor child, to be used like that. Whoever put him into the sentinel's is an idiot, he needs help."

"Did you really do what he said?" Ian asked nervously.

"I did, that bastard Tikas was far too well prepared for me," Diachta admitted actually growling as he thought back to it. "He'd broken them all, they were more like pets to him than people."

"That's horrible," Ian muttered. "I never did like that bastard. Locking you up like that." He reached out, gently stroking Diachta's muzzle. "I knew you'd have a reason."

Shaking off Ian's hand, Diachta glared at him "Don't be so quick to think me innocent Ian, I still tore away Skylar's friends and family," Shaking his head Diachta chuckled humorlessly. "Still, to have the will to survive all that... he doesn't even know that he was the worst."

Ian frowned as Diachta pushed away, feeling a little pang of hurt which he pushed aside. "He almost killed me to try and make me explain my black fire," Ian said. "That was you, wasn't it. When the naga attacked?"

"Part of me, yes, and I'm not surprised that he reacted so badly to it. The sheer amount of rage inside of him is astounding, it's swallowing or overshadowing everything else inside of him. Tikas twisted his mind so that he couldn't even remember the truth. Bastard always was good at manipulating people." Sighing, the dragon looked away from the others and out at the ocean. "Part of me is inside of him as well, I'm not even sure how that happened. He might have been better off dying with the rest of his family. He might be better off dying here and now, at least he wouldn't have to suffer."

"No," Ian said quickly. "He's messed up, but he doesn't deserve to die because of it. Doesn't reflect well on you either."

"He might want to," Diachta said, looking towards Skylar again and was amazed when he saw the human trying to sit up. "Now is that resilience or just sheer stubbornness, I still can't tell the difference?" The dragon chuckled nudging Ian forwards. "Go help him, before-."

"Skylar stop already!" Shiro screamed, trying and failing to keep the furious redhead from getting to his feet. Skylar didn't hear a single word; his magic aura was going insane, spiking one moment then plummeting the next, and it was only an indication of what was going on in his mind.

"What... did you do?" Skylar growled, staggering to his feet as the scene of his family's death seemed to play over in his mind again and again. He could see them all of them, being killed one by one again and again. It was different this time though; they weren't just screaming, he wasn't just stood still, his family were... they were attacking Diachta and Tikas, no, his name was Tyler, not Tikas! Tyler was laughing, he was laughing at them as they tried to defend him. "What.... WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!"

"I buried his essence Skylar," Diachta explained, keeping his gaze fixed solely on the redhead. At the moment Skylar was like a cornered animal, his mind split between the natural fight or flight instinct that every living creature possessed. "You're remembering what really happened."

"You're lying," Skylar snarled, glaring death at the dragon as he struggled to comprehend what he was seeing. There was just no way that he had been played his entire life, but he could see it, he could remember it. How? Why? Why now? Skylar didn't even realise that he was crying until his vision started to blur. "Stop it," he whimpered, dropping to his knees as the memories flooded through him. He didn't for a second stop to think about the fact that he was now begging the dragon for something. "Stop it.... Just make it stop!"

"I can't stop what's already in motion, child," Diachta said, the remorse thick in his voice as he did so. In truth the dragon felt as sick as he had the night all of Skylar's memories occurred; he might not have been reliving them again like Skylar was, but the mere thought of it made him feel ill. "I am sorry Skylar." Skylar stared at the dragon for another moment before slumping back. Taking pity on the human, Termal moved towards Michael and Cayden, both of whom, like everyone else, were watching the display with a mixture of horror and sympathy.

"Let us take him inside," the dragon whispered looking around at the others. "Out of the spotlight His demons are not ours to see." Glancing at each other, the wolf and gryphon silently agreed and moved towards the redhead. Skylar didn't put up any fight when they both looped one of his arms around their shoulders and started moving him into the house following the dragon's lead, the redhead had become borderline catatonic.

"We shouldn't have seen that," Josh muttered dropping his gaze to the ground in what almost seemed like shame to the rest of the group. "We had no right to witness that."

"It's for his own good, I guess," Ian sighed. "Might stop him trying to kill members of the group if he calms down a bit."

"Did that look calm to you Ian!" Shiro shouted whirling around to glare at the human for a moment before he pointed a talon at Diachta. "You did that! I don't know why or for what purpose, but you did this to him!" With his piece said and his frustration vented, the windragon ran into the house after Skylar, leaving the others a little surprised at his outburst.

"Why don't we all head inside and have a civilised conversation?" Ana asked, more than a little hostility and sarcasm in her voice as she made her way over towards the kitchen.