BETRAYAL

Westfall's Secret

Captain Westfall's vision became more clear as his new eyes adjusted. His breathing steadied, and the pain of burning fire subsided, mostly because he was the fire. The fire flowed through his veins, no longer burning him.

He was no longer human, and judging by the way everyone else in the arena stopped and looked straight at him, he could tell that he was no longer in control of his own mind. His mind now belonged to the dragon inside on him, the dragon he'd now physically become. And the dragon inside of him was remarkably calm. The Gargoyle and Griffin now appeared to his eyes as almost having a slight red outline to them. 

Enemies. 

Captain Westfall had no idea what was going on, or what was going to happen. He didn't even know how to fight in Dragon form. But his dragon mind did. He needed to let go. Not completely, but let the dragon's instincts take over. So he did. And the dragon charged.

The two beasts screeched and lunged at Westfall, but Westfall opened his sharp-toothed mouth and unleashed a deadly wave of flames from the back of throat, moving his head from left to right to spread the flames across the entire arena. The Griffin took flight to avoid being burned, while the Gargoyle was caught in the flames, and screeched out in pain. He shook his head, rearing blindly, but then eventually lifted into the air as well.

Having temporarily damaged the Gargoyle, Westfall swiped at the Griffin with one leg, catching the tip of it's wing, resulting in it staggering out of the air and onto the ground.

The Gargoyle caught Westfall by surprise, grabbing his neck from behind and throwing him across the arena with it's long legs and sharp talons.

By the time Westfall was standing again, the Gargoyle and Griffin had were both approaching him, one on each side. Now completely oblivious to anything else around him, Westfall was focused on destroying the two beasts in front of him.

As both creatures lunged for him, Westfall reared on his back legs, energy surging through him, then smashed his body forward on the ground. The energy transferred from his body to the ground, generating an immense shock wave laced with flames. The charge was so strong it knocked both creatures of their feet and flying backwards, to then land hard on the arena floor, still and unmoving. Even Semilar was jolted by the shock. The charge took so much energy from Westfall that he his dragon mind giving up it's power ho his own. As Westfall's mind began to come into focus, his vision became blurrier, and all his dragon-like features

evaporated through a burning sensation down his spine. It then left Captain Westfall in his human form, lying sprawled out on the area floor. After a few minutes he opened his eyes, and stood up, greeted with a sharp pain that was like a long line of bee-stings down his spine. He grunted, but was determined to find Iris and Shae.

He staggered over to where he saw two small bodies, and when he got there he knelt down by their sides, and turned them over to see their faces. There was blood everywhere, and it didn't look like they were breathing.

"No..." he whispered, "Please don't be dead...."

He glared up at Semilar. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" He shouted.

He could tell Semilar was rolling his eyes, but all the same, Semilar held his hands in the air and muttered something that Westfall couldn't understand.

Then, a blue light began to surround Iris, then Shae. The light flashed, then disappeared. Then after a while Shae started to cough, sitting up.

"Shae!" Westfall exclaimed embracing her in a tight hug before she could even take her second breath. Then he let go, letting her regain composure.

Then, Iris opened her eyes, and moaned tilting her head to the side.

"Iris!" Westfall exclaimed, but this time didn't rush in to hug her.

"What happened?" Shae moaned.

"You died."

Iris and Shae both frowned at him in confusion.

"Semilar revived you after he ordered to have you killed." Westfall added.

"Oh," They both replied in unison, seeming satisfied with that answer.

Westfall turned around to see the unconscious gargoyle and griffin slowly shift forms, their mythological selves evaporating into their normal states.

The Griffin shifted into Dovaa, and the Gargoyle shifting into a man Westfall had never seen before.

Then Semilar descended from his perch above the arena and now stood next to Captain Westfall.

"Your friends will be fine," He said, "but they must leave- I need to talk to you in private."

Shae and Iris didn't show any indication of leaving.

Semilar gestured to his children as well. "I said leave us."

Dovaa and her brother left the arena, and after Semilar glared at them for a minute, so did Iris and Shae.

Semilar then turned to Westfall. "You have partially passed our test."

"Partially?" Westfall echoed. "But I did what you asked!"

"Technically, no." Semilar repiled. "I asked you to save your friends. In the end, it was I who had to revive them."

Westfall opened his mouth to reply, but Semilar held up his hand. "However, the true goal of this test was to get you to unleash your true self, which you eventually did. And you also defeated my children, which is why I am not failing you.

You are extremely powerful, Westfall. Whether you chose to accept it or not, your destiny lies with us."

Captain Westfall frowned. "So you killed my best friends just to get me to transform into a fire dragon? Why couldn't you have just tortured me?"

"Because a strong man like you wouldn't give in to torture. I needed to reach you on an emotional level, deeper than just torture."

Westfall still didn't understand any of this. He sighed. "So I can transform into a dragon when I get angry?"

"Well, anger is a contributing factor, yes, but now that you've done it with practice you can transform whenever you please."Replied Semilar, "and your powers are crucial to our plan."

"Plan? What plan? You claim that I'm so important, but then you don't tell me why!" Westfall shouted. "And I just met you a few days ago and now you just want me believe that my destiny lies with you? I don't even-"

"Calm down," Semilar cut him off. "I will tell you our plan." Semilar took a deep breath. "My son, Sek'loniir...He is drifting. He is falling towards the darkness, even his eyes have turned red. My daughter and I wish to keep things the way they are, we wish to live in peace with your world and any others. But Sek'loniir does not, he wishes to control this realm, and then leave to control your world- he wishes to control everyone. He will plunge the universe into darkness.

But so far the only thing that is stopping him is me. I control this realm, and being his father, he must obey me. But you see Captain, my powers are growing weak. And Sek'loniir knows this."

Westfall raised an eyebrow. "Okay, and?"

Semilar took a deep breath, and looked Captain Westfall in the eyes as he said,

"I am dying, and I need you to replace me."