SHIFT 2 - Purgatory

The mother of dragons

The night was full around him. He watched the masquerade upon the cliff edge. So, the wounded child was coming home. A man, now. An army of his own making. The being snorted. It wouldn't last long. How was a child going to defeat the one who was to be his master!

He turned away. His promised pupil having been expelled by those two. He snorted. No prophecy was going to judge how he died. He would allow the young their moment of fight. He had seen it all too many times. Youth could never defeat the centuries of power he held. He had defeated death itself!

A half breed. A moon child. What nonsense. The cloaked figure wasn't seen by those fighting on the cliff. The child was so oblivious, he hadn't even noticed his mate wasn't near him. The bony hand came out of the dark robe. It carressed the red dragons snout. The thing tried to flinch back, but it was under his total control. Nothing would break this spell. He had used more of his own blood to compell the dragon.

"It will be fitting, that it is you who tears him apart." The deep voice cooed.

There was an emptiness in the beasts eyes. No longer did he fight with heart, soul or anything else. His will was broken. Utterly demolished, now that the master controlled all of what he was. The dragon's chains were released. It lifted its head to peer at the man.

"Ah, such a sight." The figure chuckled. "I love it when a strong will, breaks." He walked away. The dragon padded dutifully behind him, no longer able to use his own free will.

Nagisa's blade stopped a clawed hand from coming at his throat. He spun under it. Before he could slam home a blow to the beast throat, Vivian's blade took the head off. The boy laughed. They had fought together across the open field. Closer and closer the castle was coming to them. In his mind, the teen pictured his gnarld old grandfather sitting in terror behind locked doors. Nagisa knew that he wasn't gnarled. Who knew how the disease was eating at his flesh.

For a brief moment, he was free from fighting. He took a look around. Ziren fought with Mori off to his left. They were leading many of the beasts over the edge. Either Mori sliced them up, or Ziren bit their heads off. Either way, the things died.

Nagisa saw Marcus near Lucifer, Reginald and Siris. The light and dark between the two fighters was uncanny. Often times, even he lost their movements as they blended together.

Carter was fighting near the werewolves. Coldar was at his brother's side. Both defended the twin. A fog would rise up to block one or both wolves, right before a deadly strike. Nagisa laughed as Carter crowed out from assisting Race in decapitating one of the beasts. Ryu wasn't going to be happy with Carter's success.

The thought of the dragon made Nagisa frown. He realized he hadn't seen the large dragon in the skies for some time now. He gazed up, around, turning in a circle. He frowned. Collin took out the beast coming for Nagisa's back.

"Hey, get your head in the game!" The vampire cried.

"Where's Ryu?" Nagisa called out.

Collin glanced skyward. "Not sure. I haven't seen him since you dove off of the cliff." He answered.

The cousins positioned themselves back to back. They fought, inching over the packed ground. Nagisa was keeping one eye in the sky. The other dragons had transformed some time ago. But there was no sign of the large red dragon. He worked his way to where the black Ziren fought.

"Where's Ryu?" Nagisa called out.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Ziren hissed.

Their eyes met. They both felt the weight of the missing dragon. "I can't reach out to him. He hasn't answered me. But I know he isn't dead." Ziren offered.