The Son Of The Dragons

The True Enemy

Zu'in roared and let out a flurry of attacks with his greatsword. Zulah dodged and evaded for all he was worth. He knew if one of those attacks hit him, he would be history. Zaakanin stopped, and then he grinned. His sword all of a sudden shrunk to a short sword, another appearing in his hand. Zulah was momentarily distracted by the sudden change of weapons. Zu'in used that chance to strike, dashing past Zulah's defence and landing a series of blows.

"Watch out!" Xiriya yelled, immediately casting a barrier to protect Zulah. That brought the others to life too, as they rushed in, lending their aid. "Stay back! This is my fight!" Zulah yelled. They paused, uncertain. Zu'in smirked and snapped his fingers. A spark sprang up, which quickly grew into a ball of flame. He hurled it at the group. Zulah intercepted with his sword, and then retaliated with a wave of ice. Zu'in dodged to the side, and then attacked again with that flurry of his two blades.

Zulah countered each strike, his resolve growing as he gained confidence. When he spotted an opening in Zu'in's defences, he gave a push kick, meaning to give him space. Zu'in caught the foot, twisting it so Zulah landed on his stomach. Zulah rolled to one side, just avoiding the two blades that would've impaled him a second later. He sprang to his feet, and then threw a gust of air at Zu'in to push him back.

He was breathing hard, and Zu'in looked like he had barely even started. He focused on his sword, imbuing it with all three original elements, and then started throwing waves of it at Zu'in. Zu'in waved through his attacks, then jumped into the air and struck down with both blades. Zulah made a counter swing, knocking Zu'in's blades to the side, and then kicked him in the side with a roundhouse kick.

Zu'in was winded. Before he could regain his composure, Zulah threw three slashes of elements at him. He dodged two, but the third took him in the chest, and he was flung back, his white scales scorched black and sizzling because of the fire. He lay there, panting for a bit, every now and then trembling as the last of the lightning passed through him.

He got to his feet slowly. Zulah was just as tired as he, both of them were panting. "You are stronger than I expected. That explains how you managed to kill Lohkhei." Zulah frowned. "Who the hell was that?" he demanded.

"The black dragon."

"You sent them after us?!"

"Of course. The draglings that attacked you outside of Struven was also under my command."

"But...but... You are the Ideal Master! You were supposed to help me find my way!"

"I am not the Ideal Master. Zaakanin was. I inhabited his body to slip through your guard. His body is too weak now. To show my full power, I need my own body."

"So... You were evil all this time?!"

"Idiot child. You bore me. I am not evil. I only want to be the strongest, the king. Is that so hard to understand? But enough of this, I will now unleash the full power of Zu'in, and you will not stop me!"

Zu'in began to glow, and then he exploded in a flash of light. When the light faded way, where he stood was two bodies: Zaakanin, the REAL Zaakanin, and Zu'in. The real Zu'in was terrifying. He looked a bit like Zu'in in Zaakanin's body, but he had spikes growing out of his back and elbows, and instead of a normal face, he had a face like a lizard, with sharp teeth jutting from his jaws. He was still white, but bigger, more muscled.

"Now you die!" He blurred, his moverments too fast for Zulah to anticipate. He appeared behind Zulah, striking his back with the flat of his blade, then stepping to the side, as Zulah stumbled, turned around and swung his blade at him. He dodged the blade, then stepped inside Zulah's defence. He stabbed at him with both blades, but Zulah twisted to the side.

The blades nicked Zulah's flank, and he cringed as the pain hit him. He striked in retaliation, but Zu'in blocked his blade and performed a sweeping kick, wanting to sweep his feet from under him. Zulah jumped, and as he came down, he brought his sword down in an arc, putting his weight and the weight of his fall behind it. Zu'in crossed his blades and blacked the attack, but was knocked to his knees by the power behind the strike.

His eyes suddenly glowed fiercer, and he spat out a stream of flames at Zulah. Zulah countered by throwing an element wave at him, and then diving to the side, rolling and throwing another two waves. Zu'in evaded the first but the second got him full in the side. He was flung back a few metres, but he landed on his feet. "That's enough playing around! I'll show you how strong a dragon really can be!"

Zu'in shapeshifted into a white dragon, and then immediately started puking fireballs at Zulah. He dodged some, blocked others with his sword. He was concentrating so hard on surviving the attack that he didn't see Zu'in's tail, sweeping around. It caught him around the middle, and flung him high into the air. As he was coming down again, Zu'in again grabbed him with his tail and then threw him into the ground.

Zulah lay in a crater, his ribs broken, barely alive. Zu'in sauntered over, doing so with the pride of the dragon he is. "See? You are too weak. Die now, in peace. You were a worthy opponent." As Zu'in started breathing in for a final ball of flame, Zulah closed his eyes.

Everything around him fell silent. He thought back to his life, the friends he had made in Langy and in Eren, as well as Xiriya. Even though they couldn't be in the same room without fighting, he still counted her as a friend. He thought back to Heimik, he remembered what Langy had told him about Heimik being a master smith, he remembered the old oak tree where he would sit to escape Frocknar's grasp, he remembered everything. As he was lying there, struggling to breathe, he knew that he couldn't' die yet.

Zu'in would destroy everything he held dear. He couldn't allow that. His eyes flashed open. Zu'in was done with the fireball. He spat it at Zulah. Just before the ball could hit, Zulah found the strength to lift his sword. Then the fire enveloped him. Everything turned black. He fell into a dark abyss of confusion, and pain.

How long he was in that abyss he didn't know. It felt like centuries, at the same time feeling like seconds. He saw a spark in the darkness. He struggled over to it. He reached for the spark. It kindled into a fire, a blaze, an inferno. Light came back to him. He opened his eyes and screamed.