A Fool's Journey : The Lost Regalia (Rebooting)

Prologue

"Go, Isabelle! Take her and run! I'll try to distra-"

An ear-splitting roar cut Luke off mid sentence and without a moment to lose, Isabelle grabbed Amber by the wrist and made a run for it towards the lake. From the corner of her eye, she saw it. The dark dragon in its true form, Scelus the Malevolent, rising from chasm in all his dark glory. At least forty foot wide and twice as long, Scelus landed on all fours, causing the ground to tremble in his wake. Despite the urgency of their situation, Isabelle couldn't help taking a moment to get a good look at the infamous dragon. Giant wings folded behind its back, the dragon had an angular and muscled frame. The scales that covered its body were darker the endless night before them, shifty and unnerving, as though the shadows were dancing in the darkness of its scales.

Scelus turned his piercing gaze onto Luke and with one swift swipe of its spiked tail, sent Luke flying over twenty feet across the surface. In horror, she watched Luke's body hit the side of a boulder and lay unmoving on the ground where he fell. Tears had already began to well up in her eyes as she made a move to run to her friend's aid, a dazed Amber still in tow. Horrified when she reached his body, she stared at the ghastly gash across his chest. Please don't die, Luke.You promised... Eyes closed, Luke made a pained groan and tried to move. He muttered something under his breath but it was too weak and soft to discern.

"Luke, you're alive! It's okay, save your strength. We'll get through this, I know we will." Isabelle cried to Luke. Wiping away her tears, she turned to Amber, "Can you heal him?"

Then, as if the sight of all the blood finally woke her from her trance, "I-I'll try to make sure he pulls through, but I need to concentrate. In my current state, healing him will drain my magic substantially. I won't be able to help you fight Scelus. Even if you somehow managed to drive him away for now, you'd be left with two dead weights. The logical thing to do is-"

"We came here for you. I dragged Luke into all of this. You have to make sure we get out of this alive together."

With that, Isabelle stood up and turned to face the dragon. Scelus looked at the three children with calculating eyes. So, you are the ones who dare to face doom? Amber belongs in the chasm, she belongs to me... Scelus spoke to Isabelle in her mind. Having him in her mind made her own thoughts seem slow and sluggish. He was digging into her memories and oppressing her consciousness with the sheer darkness of his own.

"Oh yeah, says who!?", she screamed aloud, mustering all the courage and strength of mind she had to try and drive him out.

Ooh, we have a feisty little one here. He taunted with a snarl, No matter, you will see the error of your ways once you've come to realize that there is no hope for you.

With another deafening roar, Scelus spewed black flames at the ground before them. Curiously though, the flames did not burn with any sort of heat. In fact, they were the opposite. Suddenly the air around them felt filled with malice and a pit formed in her stomach, as if the black flames were sucking away all that was ever warm, happy and full of life. The ominous flames gathered in the middle and formed a shadowy figure. As it solidified, a thought raced across her mind, Isabelle recalled something from her class. The Diprosopi, the two-faced shadow. They're the worst of all the Shadow Beasts because the elements can't harm them and light can't kill it... Argh! I can't remember what was its weakness! Thinking dreadfully to herself and regretting not paying enough attention in class when Madam Mica discussed the Diprosopi all those months back.

--A/N--

-