Fires of Regret

     They had been at odds since birth. The echo of horns cracking together shook the room, each dragon rearing their heads back in preparation for the next strike. Sunshine eyes locked into a sea of cyan, hearts drumming as one. Each had chosen a different path in life, and now, those paths had crossed once more. Perhaps for the final time.
     "Your studies will endanger lives!" embers rose and jumped from the apprentice's nostrils, smoke puffing from him as he shifted his weight to a more menacing stance. He had always been the larger of the two, his presence the most formidable of the three siblings. Now, however, as he stood adjacent to his twin, he was forced to realize that the other was no fledgling any longer. Indeed, the slimmer dragon had managed quite the intimidating aura, the strength of his element pervading the air around them.
     "They will save so many more! You have never understood, brother; there is so much we can learn from the Aether! Why won't you just accept that?!" narrow teeth gnashed, snapping at the apprentice's maw in a show of dominance. He did not flinch.
     "You tamper with power beyond you, the same power that had once destroyed the world!"
     "It was uncontrolled! Imagine the possibilities if it were used within the reigns of our leaders!"
     "Only a fool tries to control the darkness!" he charged forward again, met head-on by his brother once more. This time, however, he pushed forward, leaving their horns locked. "You will be controlled by it, too! I'm trying to protect you!"
     "I never needed your protection!" muscles rippled beneath dark scales as the younger dared a step forward, surprising his elder and forcing him to step back. "I never needed your charity!"
     "I have stood by you our whole life!"
     "You've only ever pushed me aside!"
     "Mother tried for years to remove her corruption, and you welcome it into your body!"
     That had been the straw to break the dragon's back. Cyan eyes lit up with an unfamiliar, powerful glow, and red began to seep from the mouth of his younger twin. Burst had only enough time to unlock their horns before being blasted back by a powerful wave of fear, crippling him momentarily as he stood on his hind legs, eyes wide as he attempted to fight it back.
     His armor was superior. The attack was simply a reminder, but it would not go without punishment. Flames licked at the corners of his mouth as a powerful fire build up from within, the force of it exploding from his maw and striking the ground before his brother, a ring of elemental energy surrounding him.
     The other reared up as well, great wings opening and blowing back the fires, revealing a furious, if unharmed, fear dragon. His maw opened once more, and soon, the two had become locked in combat. Each motion was so quick, so precise, that Burst had barely any time to register their battle before being forced into the thick of it.
     A bladed tail crashed down, slicing the air past his head and cutting deeply into the ground. As his brother attempt to retrieve it, the larger pounced, taking his twin down from the side and pinning him beneath his weight. Needle-like teeth sank down into fiery scales, drawing blood and spilling it onto the ground.
     "You could never understand what this sort of power has to offer!" he snarled through the flesh in his maw, "it is well beyond the understanding of the closed-minded Guardians!"
     "That may be, but that is not the case for our parents!" Burst hissed, snapping his jaws around the leaner dragon's neck. Choked for air, the younger was forced to release him, and a claw came up to hold his head down so that he may not attempt another attack. "They lived it, our father fought to keep it at bay, and our mother was forced to suffer its affects! It turned them both into monsters! If you don't stop now, you'll be next!"
     "The Aether could offer us an infinate source of energy! We would never need to rely on other races ever again! It could build weapons to prevent those wars--"
     "They are the weapons of those wars! Why can't you see that, brother?!" he yearned to scream out his name, to remind him of who he was, but the dragon beneath him had long since abandoned that path. He was no longer the one who had grown up beside him; here, now, he was becoming a monster.
     "You've never seen power like this! I need only recreate the gems, and then--"
     "It's gone to far-- AUUGH!" Burst reared up, back arching in agony as he turned to identify the source of his pain. His brother's bladed tail had chopped straight through the scales of his lower back, the strike only being shallow from the lack of momentum. Bright eyes widened in fear; he could not believe his brother would do such a thing. Surely he was not already that far gone?
     The cleaver-like tail disconnected with his flesh with a squelch, blood splattering the ground as he twisted to stand. No, this had gone to far. The fear dragon was already preparing for his next attack, and Burst was forced to make a choice. This could not continue.
     Hind legs forced himself off the ground, springing over the younger twin and towards the room behind. The other twisted around to follow him, but by then it was already to late.
     "No! No! What are you doing?! My studies-- my home!" cyan eyes widened in terror, beak-like maw agape with shock. "What are you doing?! Brother, no!"
     The fires of his element tore into the room, licking at everything within its reach. Tomes turned to ash, cloth creating plumes of smoke, and all that his brother had owned over the years became the fire itself. Burst did not let up in his assault, torching everything he could see. Be hind him, his brother wept, watching everything that had been given to him by his friends and family become nothing. His home, his life, destroyed before his eyes.
     "You can't, you can't," the words were weak and choked, tears streaming down his muzzle as he watched his own brother eradicate him from Warfang. All that he loved burned, and his own twin stood in the center of the room, responsible for its destruction.
     The flames from his maw ceased, but those around him did not. Burst turned back to his brother, eyes narrowed in a fiery light.
     "This is not your home. You are not my brother!" once the corruption was gone, the other could be freed. Once everything burned, there would be nothing left to control him.
     Or so he had thought.
     "No... no! Why? Why did you have to be so blind?" in a true fight, both knew who would come out the victor. It was this knowledge that kept the younger rooted in place, unable to even defend what may have been left of his belongings. And yet, despite this, the darkness did not leave his eyes. Burst's own widened as he realized what he had done; what had truly just transpired.
     Needle-like teeth gritted as the cyan glow returned, fear dripping from the edges of his maw like saliva. It was only now that the smoke had summoned others, fearful of their wellbeing.
A purple light passed the two, dragging them out in an action so swift neither could quite comprehend it. Orange and gold wings rested overtop them outside, and before anything could be said, something seemed to snap within the youngest dragon.
     Narrow teeth latched into the bright, somewhat-tattered wing, tearing a piece free from its owner. The elder dragon reared back in surprise, snarling in pain and stepping back from the two. A wild look overtook the darker red dragon, and without warning, Burst felt himself being thrown back towards the growing crowd.
     Fear exploded around them, its power shaking the ground and further crippling the now-crumbling building they had just been pulled from. It began to cave in on itself as a figure floated above, the dark energy of his element tainting the air. Their father struggled to stand, having been blasted back by the force of the fury. His amethyst eyes gazed upon his youngest son with shock and horror, and without warning, he sprang back into the fray.
     With a screech befitting a beast of the darkness, his twin was brought back down to the earth, pinned beneath the substantial weight of the purple dragon. He snarled and gnashed his teeth as the Guardian's apprentice felt a weight on his back. Turning, he saw his mother, tears beading in her eyes as she shouldered him away from the scene.
     What... what had he done?