AOE Saga

The Dragon Within

Prologue

NSSC Controlled territory

Commerce Station 'Constantine'

Matt walked through the crowded streets of Constantine station. It had been a week now since they'd left Mythicos behind and the BiNebular and Matt's new ship, the 'Shadow Hawk' had stopped here for a supply stop. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the stone he'd grabbed after his fight with Massacrate. "After I find out what you are I'm using you to trade for supplies," he said and looked up at where he'd arrived. "Gralok's rare jewels. Here we are," said Matt and opened the door.

Inside it was musty. Display cases filled with everything from basic diamonds to super rare Dark Matter Jewels from the center of black holes cluttered the place. He was looking at a collection of time crystals when a voice behind him stated "Can I help you human?" giving him a minor heart attack.

"Gah…I mean yeah," said Matt, turning to see an old bronze coloured Dracon behind him. He pulled out the stone. "You know what this is and what its worth please?" Gralok took the stone off Matt and turned it over in his talons before walking over to the counter. Matt strolled after him and watched as Gralok pulled out a funny device and inserted the stone in it. "Er…Gralok?" he said but Gralok just smiled a toothy grin at Matt and said "Nothing to worry about. I just want to know what these runes mean. We don't want a curse, do we?"

Matt thought about that. "No we don't." he said thinking back to the mystery curse Massacrate had hit him with. "Definitely not," he muttered. He looked up as the device pinged. "Here we are…no…it can't be," said Gralok, reading the results and looking more terrified by the second. He looked up at Matt. "Where was this found?" he said, sounding angry. Matt shrugged and said, "I picked it up on Mythicos last week. Look, how much is it wor…?" he began but was cut off as Gralok shoved the stone into his hands and shouted. "GET THAT ACCURSED THING OUT OF MY SHOP, HUMAN!"

Matt backed up "Whoa…a simple 'its worthless' is usually sufficient. Dumb lizard reject," he muttered angrily, not noticing the faint glow on the stone as he pocketed it again.

BiNebular

Docking ring 2

Matt stomped aboard in a foul mood. Chris walked up. "Yo Matt. How'd the…trade…go?" he said as Matt walked by, ignoring him, heading for his quarters. "Er, Matt? That chuppacabra's restless…" there was a yelp and the chupacabra scampered back, slightly singed from plasma blasts. "…never mind," finished Chris.

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Matt sat in his quarters. He'd shoved the stone onto his desk and was lying on his bed, looking at an old hologram from his Temporal Marine days. "Who did we smeg off so badly they'd wanna blow us up?" he muttered "Why'd they kill you, Chloe?" he said sadly. Strangely he began to feel calmer. What the hell? said V-627 in his head This isn't normal, Lynch…and that's coming from ME Matt snapped out of it when he noticed that the runes on the stone were glowing an eerie deep blue, which was getting brighter.

A blue light beam focussed from the top of the stone in between Matt's eyes, 'rather like a laser sight' said his instincts. It began to hum loudly. "Oh hell no." said Matt and dived to the side just as a blast blew his bed apart. This also set off the BiNebular's alarms. Matt got up to see the stone focussing another shot at him and concentrated his plasma control on veering it away. Nothing happened. "Oh…smeeeeg!" he yelled running for the door as the stone let loose another volley. He dived through just in time and hit the emergency seal button. The blast shield shot down and bent outwards as the stone tried a few more shots.

Chris ran round the corner with Kala and some of the experiments. "What the…you look like you tried to take on a T-3 single handed, Matt," said Chris as Kala used her powers to heal the few cuts Matt had got. Matt was leaning against the door. "Can you get everyone? I think I should tell exactly what I got off Mythicos…"

After Draco, Chip, Morph, Lilo, and Stitch got there, Matt explained about the crystal he discovered. "You tried to pawn off an obviously magical crystal?" yelled Lilo outraged. "How was I supposed to know it was magical?" asked Matt. "If it wasn't magical, the Doom Weapons wouldn't have been keeping it," said Chip. "Magic's nothing to trifle with," said Draco, "that's one of the primary problems I have to deal with: people using magic without any idea what the repercussions might be. 'Ooh, look at this! This may contain some demon that would try to take over the world. I think I'll sell it to the highest bidder on eBay.'" "I don't sell stuff on eBay," said Matt, "anyway, the point is that thing tried to vaporize me or something." Draco blinked and said, "Yes, we better find out what that thing is before it does it again."

Draco slowly opened the dented door to Matt's room and crept inside. There were scorchmarks everywhere, but the crystal looked like it had never done anything bad in its life. Draco picked it between the tips of his finger and thumb and brought it out. Chip slowly took it and examined it. "It doesn't appear to any different from any other diamond," said Chip, "in fact, it doesn't have a single abnormality or flaw in it. Probably worth a lot." "I'm telling you," said Matt, "those ruins lit up and tried to fry me." "I don't see anything wrong with it," said Kala. "It's different, I'm telling you!" Chris put his hand on Matt's shoulder and said, "Look, you've been stressing all day. I think that stress is getting to your head." Matt's face turned slightly red and said, "I'm not hallucinating! That thing tried to kill!"

Suddenly the runes started glowing blue again and the beam focused on Matt's forehead. "Not again!" cried Matt as he smacked the crystal out of Chip's hand. The crystal landed a few feet away and let off a blast of blue energy. Everyone dove out of the way except Morph, who didn't see it coming. The blue energy hit Morph and caused the nexus of blue sparks to play around his body before vanishing. Lilo looked at Morph and said, "Are you okay?" Morph blinked and said, "That didn't hurt. Not the least bit." "Well duh," said Chris, "you're a plasma blob. You can regenerate." "But I can feel pain," said Morph, "that thing didn't even damage me." "Then how'd it cause all that?" asked Matt, pointing at the damage the crystal did in his room. Draco picked up the crystal off the ground and studied it. Then he put it in one of his mouth and chomped down on it. But instead of shattering, the crystal seemed to cause a lot of pain on Draco. He spat out the crystal along with a couple of teeth. "Yep," said Draco as his gums grew more teeth, "that's dark magic. I know when I taste it. No wonder Gralok wanted out of his shop so badly." "But what kind of dark magic is it?" asked Chip. "I don't know, but we're gonna find out."

Later, Draco was contacting the Dragon Council on Earth through a crystal ball. "I think it's an enchantment stone of some kind," said Draco, "but I can't tell what kind." The Council Members talked among themselves and then the Dragon of Europe said, "I think it would be best if you brought the stone here for examination." "Yes," said the Dragon of Atlantis, "we must know its properties." "All right," said Draco, "I'll bring my friends down here to make sure nothing happens to it." "Very well," said the newly appointed Dragon of Asia, "but if you don't mind, I'd like to hire some professional security for the stone." Draco shrugged his shoulders, said, "Fine with me," and ended transmission. The Dragon of Asia turned to the others and said, "Now if you don't mind, I need to make a call." The Dragon of Asia left the room and went to another room with a crystal ball. When she looked to see no one was there, she whispered a secret address into the ball. As the fog in the orb swirled, the Dragon of Asia removed her guise. What looked like a thirty-some woman of Indian descent became the treacherous Councillor Chang. As the image of the Dark Dragon came into view, she said, "Master, I have some news that might interest you."

There's the first chapter. It's going to get even more interesting in the next chapter. You're gonna see sparks flying. Keep an eye out. Please review.