Flame Rider II: Rise of Chaos

Arms Race

Joseph was sitting next to Dragono, as his own dragon curled up next to him. I was sitting on the couch in the lounge of the apartment that Josh, my boyfriend, Joseph – his brother – and I lived in.

Ginny was out hunting in the native forests of New Zealand, while Dragono looked after his latest rider, Maria. Josh was in the room with her right now, and I was worried for her. During Maria’s frequent stays on Earth, before finally moving here permanently, she had never had these attacks.

And now it was her third breakdown. The first time I had blamed Delpha for forcing some of Blaze’s memories onto her, but when Dragono told me that the AI had been quiet ever since Blaze’s death, I apologised.

The second time, I had started to wonder if it was the climate – as in the change of climates, like what would happen to myself when went from one pole on Lordernaft to the next – but I brushed that off knowing that it didn’t make sense.

“He’s coming out,” Joseph stated, “And something’s not quite right.”

When Josh walked in, I stood up, but he only motioned for me to sit back down. He moved quietly into the kitchen, before coming back out with a glass of water. He sat down next to me, and held his glass in his hands.

“There’s something wrong with Maria, isn’t there?” Joseph asked.

“She’s come up with a fever,” Josh stated, “But it isn’t the normal fever that you would accept, but rather more like the one Anna had a few months back.”

“So, how long before she gets better?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but if I guess correctly,” Josh explained, staring into his glass, “bout two weeks minimum.”

I nodded, before saying to Joseph, “Shouldn’t you feed Carlos?”

Joseph looked down at said dragon, and froze slightly, before getting up and walking into the garage, Carlos waddling behind him. When he had left, Dragono finally spoke.

‘She is muttering things, isn’t she?’ he asked.

“The same thing,” Josh nodded, “Something about someone being on a warpath.”

“Do you know what she’s talking about?” I asked Dragono, rubbing Josh’s arm with my hand.

‘From what I could see, I am guessing a great evil,’ the dark dragon stated, his flaming scales shifting slightly as he moved, ‘Someone from all of our pasts.’

“But who?” Josh asked, “I only know a few people that would want to get me for things that I did to them, but no one that would want to kill me.”

“Yeah, and the last we heard of Cre^dus, he had disappeared completely,” I stated, “Who would there be left?”

‘All I can say,’ Dragono replied, ‘is that time will tell, like all things, time will tell.’

*-*-*-*

The transport that I was in shifted slightly as it passed another planet. The Klanoats that were inside the shuttle with me were mostly part of a class called Elite. From what I could find out, it meant that they listened to no one, but their leader.

The only reason they were going to listen to me, was because Cre^dus told them to. I looked them over one last time. Each Elite was armed with a Plasma Assault Rifle, and an Energy Sword. Two of the Elites were also armed with something that they called a “Knife Rifle” and used it to kill their opponents both up close and at a distance.

Their armour was simple, as the Klanoat foot soldiers relied greatly on their energy shielding, which was powered by a small generator in their suits. I wore the armour that I had worn back on Reqziga, although it had been upgraded with its own shield.