Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 or any of its incarnations.

Hey everyone I know its been a longgggg time, and I'm sorry about that. To make up for it I wrote a dusy of a chapter for you. Hope you like and let me know what you think...

Curious Dragons

Chapter 20

As the power of the amulet began to wash over the two battered teens, a wave of relief began to envelop them. It quickly brought their overly active bodies down from the adrenaline high. After that, a whirlwind of pink smoke began to pour out from the sides of the amulet. The whirlwind swiftly lifted the teens into the air and flew back towards the town. Kevin panicked a little since he was flying, but not in his original body, and Ben laughed at his lover and enjoyed the ride back to the hotel.

When the swirling cloud of smoke placed them, and surprisingly Kevin's car, back at the hotel, Ben took his lover's hand and started walking back to the hotel. While walking, Kevin chucked his key to a valet and threatened to kill him if he scratched the car. The young man whimpered in fear and quickly went to retrieve the car. Ben slapped Kevin's arm for his intimidation tactics, but made no attempts to correct him.

Upon reentering their room, Ben sighed in relief and began to feel his fatigue. Without as much as a word, his strength left him and fell backwards. Noticing this, Kevin reached out and positioned himself so he could catch Ben. "Whoa there, Benji! I know you're tired but if you wanna to go to sleep why not do it on the bed instead," the young dragon lord said. Ben gave his lover a tired smile and replied, "Don't think I've got the energy to get there."

It took Kevin less than a minute to rearrange Ben so he could lift the teen into his arms and carried him to their bedroom and place into the bed. While his fatigue left him almost powerless, Ben gave Kevin a small smile and thanked him. In return Kevin kissed his forehead and told him to rest.

Charmcaster's defeat didn't take long to reach Aggregor's camp. To say he was upset was an understatement. His anger forced him to change from his human form to a monstrous dragon and burned half the camp down. His advisor and personal sorcerer, Hex, was forced to use his powers along with a powerful amulet to rein in his angered master. Once his temper was controllable, Aggregor told the Anodite to restore him to his human form again. Hex simply bowed and re-casted the spell. It took seconds for the dark dragon to retake a human form.

"You do realize with the capture of your niece, my plans have come to a halt," he mentions turning to glare.

The dark Anodite cursed his niece's failure and tried his best to find a way out of this situation. "My Lord, it may not be as bad as it seems," Hex said bowing.

With a slight growl, Aggregor stood up from his throne and asked, "Oh, then you know another true rider that we can use to activate the pillars and open the portals?"

Hex stood up again and thought for a moment. "No, my Lord, I cannot think of one, but maybe by watching Charmcaster's bouts, we can find a way to get the key back."

Taking a seat once more, the dragon told his servant to go ahead and show him Charmcaster's failure. The sorcerer held his staff firm as he cast his spell. "Intuensautem in orbemostenderetpraeter me." As the spell activated, the hollowed portion of the staff's head began to brighten. Then with a flash of light, a large orb appeared and began showing the fights between Charmcaster, Verdonna, Marello, Ben, and Kevin. The fight held no interest to the dark dragon lord until a certain action caught his attention, he began to smirk and spoke to his sorcerer.

"Well, it looks like you were correct, Hex. It appears the Plumbers have what I'm looking for. But to capture him will take some work. For now, I want you to return us to the castle so we can begin planning our next move."

Hex sighed in relief knowing his life had just been spared. He quickly bowed before his leader and used his magicks to inform everyone in the camp that he was returning them to the castle.

~~~~~~ 8 Month Time Skip~~~~~~

Over the next several months, the Plumbers were able to apprehend many of Aggregor's followers, with their best interrogators working around the clock to uncover as much as they can about Aggregor's whereabouts. The only lead they had was the area where Kevin encountered his uncle more than a year and half ago. It has been determined that Aggregor has been using dark magic to control his "followers." This made it extremely hard for the Plumbers to find.

On a side note, Ben and his team have become very well known amongst the Plumbers for their acts and success rate in missions. The praise and hero-worship from some of the younger Plumbers gave Ben a big head at times, but Gwen brought him back down to earth.

After one particular mission, Ben, Gwen, and Kevin returned to Marello's office to report their findings. Once they filed in, Marello signaled them to begin. Gwen started off by giving him the overlook of the mission, which was to search the southern region of the continent for any sightings of Aggregor's troops. Then Ben started filling him in on some of the areas they searched. They were unsuccessful in finding anyone in the original area they were given to search, but they heard from local rumors about sightings of strange looking dragons flying further south. After checking a few more people about the strange dragons, they left and searched for them.

These "strange dragons" turned out to be Aggregor's troops, but what seemed odd about them was that they were riding dragons and were able merge with their dragons. This caught Marello's attention, but he gestured for Ben to continue. Ben and his team decided to take the opposition down quickly and were able to secure them. However, it was then that things began to get strange. The dragianium summoners fell off the human riders as they were beaten and immediately started to disintegrate. From what they witnessed, this seemed to be the key that kept the dragons and riders under whatever spell possessed them. Once the spells' effects wore off, most of the dragons became hostile until Kevin changed into his other form.

Kevin calmed the enraged dragons and was able to find out that they were captured and taken some place. When the humans were asked what happened, they repeated the same thing. However, in their case, many of them were either ex-criminals or orphans.

Marello shook his head at this point and sighed. It was apparent that Aggregor chose his soldiers by their standing in society. His new minions were basically those who had no real connections in the world and no one would look for them.

With this new information, Marello made a mental note to look through a few missing person's reports.

"Well this is disturbing to say the least," the young commander said. He leaned forward and intertwined his fingers on the desk. "What I want to know is how Aggregor keeps making troops, and what process he uses that forcibly binds them to dragons."

"Commander, with this new information, maybe the research teams can try and analyze any residual magic on our captives," a new voice said.

Ben and the others jumped as they looked around the room for the disembodied voice. Marello was still calm as he replied, "This is true but before then, we have a meeting to attend. Oh, Kevin, Ben and Gwen before we continue I'd like to introduce you to another one of my top field agents, Rook Blonko."

From the corner of the room, a tall creature with periwinkle-blue colored fur, black and white markings on his face, and pointed ears, appeared and bowed slightly. "My apologies for not making myself known sooner. Many of my assignments keep me in the shadows, so I tend to forget how to act around others," Rook said with a smile.

Ben jumped when he saw the young man for the first time and readied to use his summoner. Marello rolled his eyes and told Ben to stand down.

"I understand that this may come as a surprise, but there are intelligent creatures in our world. Many live on other continents, but Rook's kind live on an island about 250 miles off the east coast. He is one of a few non-human Plumbers, but he still is one of our allies."

Marello knew they probably had more questions, but there were more important things to discuss. "Kevin, Gwen, Ben; I know you are tired from your latest mission but there is a meeting of Commanders this afternoon. You three are an important part of this meeting, so you will be in attendance."

Before they could get any other details, Kevin growled and let this thoughts be known. "Can't the damn thing wait? We've been all over this country for two months looking for information."

The glare that Kevin received stopped him for a moment. "Kevin, I understand that you're tired but this was the only time we could get all 13 commanders together and have enough time to speak about what we need to do. After the meeting, you will be on leave for the next two weeks. I know it's not a lot of time off but you all will be working the information center after that."

Surprisingly, the team sighed in relief for the time off and prepared themselves for the meeting of Commanders.

After two hours of prepping and a short nap, Marello called for a car to pick them up.

The car ride lasted half an hour and when it stopped, the team noticed they were at the Plumber's Command Center. This building was where any of the Plumbers' plans of action were decided upon, and where the archive was stored. To normal members of the Plumbers, the building was like The Holy Grail. Only those who reached the rank of Magister were allowed inside unless under special circumstances.

Once they entered the building, Marello lead his subordinates into the main conference room. The room was set up with twelve high standing platforms lining the room. These platforms where the thirteen commanders were to sit and below each platform were several more chairs for each commander's chain of command. When they entered the room, it appeared almost everyone was there and waiting for Marello and his team.

The young commander told them to take a seat since he was the one who wanted this meeting in the first place.

Once he knew everyone was seated, Marello walked towards a stage situated in the middle of the room. He took hold of the microphone and began to speak. "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for making it to this meeting. With every Plumber working diligently to avoid another human-dragon war, I know finding time to attend this meeting may have been tough. Today I wanted everyone here to share what information you may have gathered."

A man from a platform on Marello's right started off, but not in the way everyone hope. "So you're telling me that you, the Commander of the Intelligence Bureau, doesn't have all the information?"

Marello gave a steely glare towards the older commander, however, before he could comment the last commander on Marello's left spoke out. "Commander Driscoll, those kinds of comments are out of line and any further comments may cost you your rank and standing with the Plumbers." Those words seemed to strike a chord with Driscoll. Marello turned to see it was the Commander Wes who spoke up.

Wes looked at Marello and said, "Marello, many of us do not have that much information to share but I ask you to begin telling us as much you can about the enemy. The more we know, the better prepared we can be."

Marello shook his head and called Rook to the stage. It was Rook's job to catalog all information going on with the threat of Aggregor and his Dragon/Human war. The young Revonnahgander began telling them how after the last war, dragons and humans found a shaking peace, and it was threatened when a young dragon was found beaten and half dead in a human corn field. Aggregor used this as a prompting to start his war. Telling many dragons that humans would never change and the only way to live in peace was if they ruled over humans as they did in ancient times. His speeches were echoed throughout the dragon population and many joined him. However, as time continued on, it was only dragons working for him. Many riders soon appeared and worked alongside the former prince in whatever agenda he had.

Once the beginnings were told, Rook asked Ben, Gwen, and Kevin to come up and explain things from their experience. The trio hurried to the stage and Kevin started retelling how he met his uncle after leaving the palace. He explained how he and Ben first met and how later they became partners. From there Gwen told them of their first mission and about the altar with almost limitless mana. This was when one commander asked why that town wasn't under Plumber supervision.

"Smallville has been under a curse for almost 1700 years and it went under our radar for over half that time. So if it was under a curse and we couldn't help, how can we now? However, if that is not enough for you, then consider that the town's protector is an Anodite with 1700 years' worth of knowledge and power far exceeding even Lady Verdonna's," Tasha stated.

Another commander asked how Tasha gained that information, and she simply replied that is was because she worked beside Marello in many of his investigations that she gained access to some of his info.

This brought about a few whispers amongst the crowd, but when Max asked Gwen to explain the altar, everyone seemed to start paying attention again. "Well gran-I mean Commander Tennyson, over the past few months, several fully-fledged Anodites, as well as Grand Anodite Verdonna, have tried measuring the power of the altar. At this time we can simply give it a proper reading. Each Anodite has emptied themselves of mana and drawn it from the altar and no one can sense the slight falter in its mana flow."

"To make matters even stranger, a second altar with the same type of mana signature was discovered in Twilight Town. The mana signature was being changed from a pure source of mana to something dark and unnatural. However, thanks to Commander Marello, Lady Verdonna, Kevin, and myself the enemy failed in plans," Ben said, taking over the explanation.

From there, the other commanders and some of their field agents offer up all information they had. But even still, one piece of information still bothered one of guests. "Hmm, Commander Marello, I have a question for your agents who were near the sites of these altars. Can you draw their locations on a map for me?" asked one familiar voice.

It took a moment for a digital map to be produced, but Gwen quickly located both points on the map. The altar in Twilight Town was located on the eastern coast of the continent, while the other in Smallville was located in the southern tip.

When Ben looked to see who it was that asked about the locations, he was surprised to see it was Paradox. Looking closer, Ben noticed that the man wasn't wearing his normal smile. He seemed tense about something. Ben leaned over to Marello and mentioned this to him. Marello in response looked over and addressed it. "Prof Paradox, is there something you know that can help us? You've lived over 300 years, surely this isn't new to you seeing how tense you are."

The time-walker sighed but smirked afterwards, mentally congratulating them for finally catching his unease. "Well, Commander Marello, I do have some information that can help you all, but I promised I'd never reveal this information to a soul," Paradox said, shaking his head in a displeased notion. Many of the commanders and other attendees started to yell at Paradox, but Commander Greene quieted them down by releasing a wave of his power.

He sighed and looked towards the time-walker. Wes and Max shared a knowing look that Paradox was serious, but there's a loop hole they can exploit if they can find it.

What happened next surprised everyone in the room. Kevin looked at the old man and said, "Well, then, bring in the dope who told you." Many heads turned to Kevin, but the young dragon smirked and explained, "You said you promised you'd never tell anyone, so someone had to tell you. So bring them in and let them let us."

Paradox's normal smile returned and replied, "Ah, it looks as if there is hope for the future, my young king. The only problem with this plan is that the being with this knowledge doesn't make guest appearances. But if you were to call him, I believe you have a better chance at getting the information you seek."

"Ok, so tell me who it is I need to call," the young dragon stated. The time-walker only said one word and it was enough to send a chill down Kevin's spine. Ben glanced over at Kevin and began to worry from the nervous look on Kevin's face. "Hey Kev, who's Azmuth," Ben asked.

Kevin shivered once more and tried to explain his nervousness. "Azmuth is the elder of dragons. He's the most intelligent creature on this planet and was the third dragon ever created. He doesn't answer to anyone with his age and knowledge; not even my uncle would challenge him. However, he's a total recluse and almost never comes out of his lab. If I call him and he's in the middle of one of his experiments, he'll either ignore me or blast me."

With this, everyone in the room became nervous. Marello, however, looked a little intrigued. "Well call the big bad boogie of a dragon. If we want to stop your uncle we'll need his help," Marello said trying to hide his excitement.

Kevin, who was against calling Azmuth, knew the guy was right so he began his transformation into a dragon. Once he was completely transformed, he sent a message to Ben to make a request from Gwen. As Ben relayed the message, Gwen nodded and quickly casted a spell on everyone with a five mile radius of the building. Kevin then took in a deep breath and let loose a powerful roar. This echoing roar burst all the glass in the building and even shook the ground all around them. The echo of the roar was magnified as it bounces off the walls of the city.

Even with Gwen's spell making everyone deaf, they can feel the power of Kevin's roar. Ben, who's staring at all the damage Kevin's done, wondered if he's gonna have to pay for this. However, his thoughts were put on hold when Gwen's spell ended and everyone was looking around. Wes turned to Kevin and began to yell about the damage, but stopped when he began to sense a heavy aura. It appeared that everyone felt it and then a blinding light burst in the middle of the room.

"Was it necessary to call me using such an archaic method of communication?" a disembodied voice asked. Everyone looked around for the owner of the voice, but it wasn't until he cleared his voice again that everyone saw a small creature standing on the table in the middle of the room.

The creature had large, bulbous, green eyes with thin lines for pupils, and tendrils that looked like facial hair. Its skin was a grey-ish color and his face held a serious expression.

No one in the room said anything until Driscoll started laughing. "This is the terrifying Azmuth? He's no taller than a child's toy!"

Azmuth turned to face Driscoll and stated very calmly, "Your chattering is unamusing. So let's give you a form that will match." The small dragon waved his hand and from Driscoll's box came a horrified scream. A green light engulfed the man and once it swallowed him, his body began to morph and reshape. The light faded quickly revealing a new Driscoll, a hyena.

To say that it started a frenzy would be an understatement. Every Plumber was preparing to pull out their weapon of choice when Kevin yelled for them to stop. "You saw what Azmuth did with just a wave of his hands, and that was just for an insult. Imagine what may happen if he felt threaten. Besides, Driscoll got what was coming to him."

With that said, everyone took their hands away from their weapons and started to calm down. Azmuth watched the event with a bored expression. "If you all are quite done, is there reason why you've dragged me away from my lab?"

It was everyone's luck that Paradox started talking at that moment. "You know very well why you were summoned. If you didn't, you never would have bothered to answer Kevin's call." Kevin, in response, took hold of his throat now that it started to hurt after his roar. The elder dragon sighed and looked around the room. When his eyes landed on the map, he noticed the points that were lit up. His face turned solemn and then sad for a moment. He then turned to the audience and waved his hand once more. Driscoll returned to his true form, but didn't say anything in fear of what the dragon could do.

"It appears that the shrines of my old friends have been found," the elder dragon spoke quietly. "It's apparent that you all have no idea what you are looking for or know what Aggregor is after. The only way to understand Aggregor's ambition you must first understand how life came to be the way it is. I will tell you only if you all vow on your mana or dragianium summoner that you will never tell a soul of what you hear."

Many of the mana users and dragon riders looked around the room confused. The vow Azmuth made them take was one that would cost them dearly. If the vow was broken, they'd lose their abilities and position within their organization. Those who could not make the vow were made to leave the room and the meeting was immediately erased from their memories once they went back to their offices. Once the room settled, Azmuth took a deep breath and began his tale.

~~~~~Near the Beginning~~~~~

The universe was once was an empty void of flowing gases and minerals, watched over by an ancient deity. This being became bored with have nothing more than empty rocks to look at, so they begin visiting different planets and began crafting creatures to live on them. While each race of being he created were unique and special, his greatest creations were saved for a special blue sphere that was segregated from most of the universe.

The two unique creatures to this little blue sphere were special to him as he wove a special destiny for them. The first of these creatures he made would be known later as humans. Curious creatures, who walked on two legs, and if their bodies were attuned in a certain way they could draw on the power of mana to produce miracles, an art called magic. The second creature he made exclusively for this world was a large beast that would normally stand on four legs, but to make them more unique, this deity linked each type of this new race to another alien race he already created. He called this creature a dragon and gave them the duty to protect this world, should another alien race rise to try and take this world as their own.

To lead the dragons, the god crafted three special dragons first. The first would be a dragon of black scales who would have all the abilities of the other dragons to use whenever he needed, and a unique trait of shape-shifting into a human. The second dragon was given scales of gold and could shape shift into any dragon he saw or had seen before, this dragon would serve as the black dragon's lieutenant. The third dragon was one of a gray color and his position would be to serve as the dragon king's advisor. He was given the knowledge and wisdom that surpassed many other alien races, even the ones he was connected to. After creating the leaders of this special race, crafting the other dragons was an easy task.

Once all the creatures of this world were finished, the deity allowed a bit more of his power to flow through the planet. After this, the ancient one left the realm and closed himself off so he could rest and recover the power that was used to craft the creatures of the universe.

On the blue sphere, the humans and dragon lived in peace for many years. This left the black dragon with almost nothing to do. So one day, he told his lieutenant he was going to look over their world. The gold and grey dragons nodded and told him they would look after things while he was away. With the king of dragons' departure, things began to change. Around the continent many dragons became swelled with pride as the humans treated them in high regard. The balance of power that should have been kept between the two races started to teeter into a dangerous area. Humans began to see dragons as gods and not the protectors. Dragons let their egos grow at a rapid rate and began to see humans more as tool rather than equals.

This cycle continued for almost three centuries until the balance of equality vanished and slavery had replaced it. The gold and grey dragons tried to rebuild the equality that once existed, but failed to turn the other dragons back to the light. When the first gold dragon passed on, his son took over and fell into the same delusions of grandeur that the other dragons believed in. The gray dragon left his brothers in shame and vowed not to leave his home until a time came when dragons and humans could live together again.

The humans suffered greatly under the rule of the dragons' until they discovered the sleep abilities lying dormant within. The power of the creation, mana, was soon discovered when a human voiced that he did not want to live as a slave anymore and swore to do what he could to free his people. That human was first to discover mana, and while he didn't have any training or knowledge of it, he used it to attack the dragon that controlled the area. The dragon was defeated with no knowledge of what happened and for the first time in three centuries, humans decided for themselves what they wanted to do.

The news of a dragon's death hurt and angered many dragons, but none were willing to rush in without any knowledge of what they were up against. This proved to be a mistake on the dragons' part, as it gave the humans time to learn how to use and manipulate the power that dwelt within their bodies.

Though it was a few weeks since their brother died, the dragons' soon felt the change in the air as a small mass of humans charged from their brother's territory. Many dragons rushed in unafraid and released torrents of fire to destroy the weak humans. However, this was not to pass. The torrents of fire were turned against them and crashed into their bodies. While the flames didn't hurt them too badly, the dragons' soon felt fear for the first time.

The humans soon swarmed into the next territory and began taking back their comrades and families. Using their new powers they forced the dragons to retreat. While many of the humans wanted to rejoice with their new friends, those who fought quickly began to search for more of those like them. Those who could wield the power of mana and use magic were called Anodites.

It took almost two years for news of the human revolt to reach the current dragon king's ear, but when it did, he was furious. The golden dragon soon flew from the mountains, which it called home and began looking down to find small villages of humans living. He quickly turned himself at a downward angle and entered the closest village. He snarled at the human who gawked at him. With a loud roar he called for the village's leaders. A young man came to him and called for the dragon to stop. The dragon leader turned his furious gaze to the man. "How dare you demand anything of me! You creatures are nothing more than worthless scraps to serve us dragons, your masters," the dragon growled.

The young man gave the dragon an unimpressed look. "Clearly you've been in your mountains too long. We humans after masters of our own fate and we will never return to slavery. Now leave before I make you."

The dragon king did not take the human's wronging seriously as he reached out his long neck to try and snap the leader's neck. The young anodite saw that talking would be useless as he gathered mana from all around him. Quickly, he formed a spell and launched it at the dragon. Following his instincts, the dragon tried dodging the orb of mana, but was caught by the spell.

A glowing white light engulfed the dragon as he released a torrent of flames at the young man. In an instant the dragon was teleported back to his home in the mountains. Now, the dragon king knew what his kind were up against and called on for the dragon clan leaders to discuss their next move.

This was the start of the Dragon Human Wars

~~~~~Brief Interlude~~~~~

As Azmuth began his tale, he pulled a crystal sphere from his pocket. The sphere began to shine and created holographic images pulled from Azmuth's memories.

After the first thirty minutes, the elder dragon stopped his tale and called an intermission. All who were in the room agreed with the dragon as they began processing the information they were given. The Plumbers began moving out of the conference force, avoiding the broken glass. Kevin, Marello, Gwen, and Ben walked closer to the elder dragon while most people went to find food or rest.

As they approached they noticed the saddened expression on Azmuth's face. "Uh, Azmuth, you okay?" the dragon prince asked.

"Being here has forced me to look at my past failures as the advisor to the crown. Not only that, but it makes me wonder; if I stayed and tried harder to convince that foolish dragon not to start a war. But none of those thoughts will help us now will they?" the elder dragon rabbled. With that, he dismissed the Plumbers and told them they should go and notorious themselves. Each of them gave the old dragon a mournful look, but did as he ask.

One hour later the Plumber leaders were back in the seats and Azmuth began his tale a new.

~~~~~End of Interlude~~~~~

For almost a year, the humans and Anodites freed their families and friends from the dragons before they saw the trap that the dragons laid out. The anodites became full of themselves and their power, and never noticed how the latest village had been "ruled" by one dragon.

Only after freeing their new allies did they hear about the trap. The dragons had spent the year training to create a unique power of their own. This power came from drawing on the mana humans did, but instead of using it to cast spells, they forced it to bind with their body. This made their bodies resistant to the human's magic and allowed them another ability. This ability could only be managed by a few of the dragon species, but the mana that didn't bond with their bodies would be compressed and unleashed as a beam of energy. The beam could be used as another appendage or as a spear. Also, the beam could bend and curve at the users will.

The battle ended with a lost for the humans and them leaving with a greater urge to defeat their foes.

As the war reached its hundredth and fifth year, a young anodite was practicing in the woods. He would have trained with the anodites, but because his ability to use mana properly were weak, they turned him away anytime he wanted to train. However, today was much different for the young anodite. That morning his village had been warned that dragons were coming to the area, but he missed the announcement due to him leaving to train before anyone noticed him gone.

After two hours of simple spell casting, the boy was beginning to grow tired when a growl caught his attention. The boy's senses when on high alert and he began surveying the area. When a bush shuffled a bit, the boy took off running further into the woods. It was then he heard the growls and roar of dragons. Working his body harder than ever, the boy ran into the deepest part of the forest with two predators on his tail. He was able to slow them once as he cast a spell on the flora and trees of the forest. Acting as leashes, they reached out and ensnared the dragons, but it only held them for a moment or so.

For an unknown amount of time, the boy ran but soon his body gave out on him and left him with no way to escape. It took only a few minutes for a dragon to catch up with the boy. It snarled and glared at the boy. "You think it was funny to use the foliage of this forest to make fools of us boy?" a greenish-yellow dragon said. "I only meant to toy with you before giving you a painless death, but now you'll suffer before you die." The dragon placed one of its claw on the left hand and raised the other to cut into the arm.

Luck decided to pity the boy as something powerful bulldozed into the dragon's side. Growling, the dragon looked to see what hit him. For a moment, a fearful expression crossed the dragon's face. Standing over the human, was a black dragon. Its red mane and glowing red eyes glared at the other dragon. "Y-you can't be real. The last black dragon should be dead by now," the dragon roared.

The black dragon gave a smirk and it replied, "I am a myth, but tell me could a myth do this?" With a roar focused on the yellowish dragon, the dragon fled the area with all his instincts and body moving to obey what the black said.

With the other dragon gone, the black dragon moved so he could look at the young human. The boy had passed out, but the black dragon only shook his head. Moving gently the dragon picked the boy and placed him on his back and headed towards his home.

Several hours later, the young human started to wake, warm, and his pillow was moving at an even rhythm. When the boy's mind processed this and his memories from earlier finally caught up with him, he became terrified. He looked to his left and saw the head of a black scaled dragon. The boy began to panic and started to move away when he noticed he was sandwiched between the dragon's wing and its body. He slowly pushed the wing away when he heard a grumble come from the dragon. Quickly, the wing was back in place if not pulling him closer. If the boy wasn't in an all-out panic he would have found a dragon that likes to cuddle funny.

The boy tried his best to calm down and after a moment or two, he was level-headed enough to figure out a way to get away from the dragon. While there was much to be desired in his magical skills, he focused his will and mana into a teleportation spell. A moment later, his body soon vanished from under the dragon and he was standing in front of the lizard. He smiled to himself and began to make his way to the entrance of the cave until he heard a voice call out to him. "You know, you could have just asked me to move if you wanted to get up," the black dragon thought aloud. When the boy turned around, the dragon was still laying down, but now it was apparent that he was only playing possum.

At that moment the boy lost it as he started shouting. "I don't know what game you're playing, but if you're planning on keeping me as a pet, just know I'm never going to accept that as my fate. I will find a way to get away."

The not-so-slumbering dragon got up at this and looked at the boy with an inquisitive look. "Why would I keep you as a pet? I was only teasing earlier, and why would you run away? I'm not forcing you to stay," he stated.

The young human looked at the dragon with a great deal of suspicion as he asked him a question. "So you're not going to make me a slave or pet or something?"

"No, you're a sentient being. I'd never do that nor my brothers. A dragon's duty is to protect and serve all beings of this world."

"Could've fooled me. Your brothers started enslaving my kind over a hundred years ago and now we're at war for our survival."

This news was shocking to the dragon. "T-that's impossible! My dad told me Azmuth would never let that kind of thing happen. I have to go see him. Maybe he'll tell me what's going on, maybe even how to fix everything."

The human jumped as the sound of "fix everything" and told the dragon he was coming. The dragon tried to persuade the human otherwise. However, he soon realized it was a lost cause. So the dragon took flight and flew at a moderate speed, not knowing if his passenger could handle things. The young human felt an exhilarating rush as he rode on the dragon's back, but after an hour or so he tugged the dragon's mane. This was one of the signals the two had come up with before their flight.

The dragon landed and decided it was probably a good time eat. Taking off into the woods, he would return to the site the boy set up with tree bucks. The first buck was tossed in the boy's direction and it shocked the boy to see a dragon was being kind to him. While part of him didn't trust the dragon, another part of him was telling him that maybe this dragon was different. Either way, the young man cast a spell to start a fire.

As the fire grew, the young human started to skin and cut up his buck. He found a few herbs and wild vegetables, and decided to skewer them. Once his food was done, he looked over at his traveling partner and noticed there was nothing left of dragon's two bucks. He shivered at the thought of what happened, but as he started to eat he felt the dragon staring him down. "If you're still hungry you can eat half of what's left of my buck. I'm gonna dry the rest of it out to eat on the way." The dragon purred in his own way and quickly eat half of the buck.

Soon, night fell over the two travelers, and unfortunately it seemed the cold started to settle on the land. As the cold started to dig deep into the boy's body, and beam of purplish energy picked him up and brought him over to the dragon. Said dragon lifted his wing and laid the boy against him. The young human grumbled for only a moment as he felt the dragon's body heat. The dragon stated, "Your shivering was annoying." However, his word fell on death ears as the human was lulled to sleep. The dragon give a slight smile and tucked closer and joined his companion in the land of dreams.

The following morning the dragon awoke to find a few rabbits and faun next to him. He looked over towards the boy and saw him roasting a rabbit. He smiled and quickly ate his meal. To thank the boy, the dragon quickly got them ready to fly out. As the dragon secured the boy to his back with a mag bolt (magic bolt, energy dragons use after they absorb mana) and performed a few aerial moves. The human screamed in fear at first but after a few tricks he began to enjoy himself immensely.

On their next stop, the two began to build an unnoticed bond. The dragon learned the boy's name was Artha Penn, and young Artha learned the dragon didn't really have a name. Growing up, it was only the dragon and his father, so names weren't really needed. Artha didn't like that kind of thinking, so he named the dragon. It took him a few moments, but the name Artha came up with was Draco. The young dragon questioned the name but accepted it. From then on, the two became friends and would continue their journey for another week.

Upon reaching Azmuth's cave, Draco called out for the dragon. Artha was shocked when a small creature came from the cave. It was his sarcasm that got him hung upside down and laughed at by Draco. The youth asked Azmuth to put him down and the older dragon happily agreed. With his fun out of the way, Azmuth was certainly surprised to see the young dragon. When Draco explained what was going on, Azmuth sighed and said he didn't know what was happening in the world. "It make no sense how we started out as noble creatures, and then become horrible slave masters. The mental changes were as if something forced our natures to change. However, that is only one hypothesis." Artha asked the dragon to explain that, and Azmuth told him that on their world some darker creatures were sealed away. Artha didn't like this answer, but let the dragon continue.

"Sir Azmuth, is there any way to stop this war? Can we not stop all the violence?" Draco asked after hearing two or three hypothesizes from Azmuth. The elder dragon shook his head and said "The only way I see this war ending is if something stronger than either side intervened…" His words seemed to turn into a curious notion as he turned and looked at the young dragon and human. With a loud "hmm," Azmuth told the two to follow him inside. The two did as they were told and soon ended up becoming guinea pigs. Azmuth scanned the two and smiled at the results he received.

"Well gentlemen, I believe you two are the ones to end this war," the old genius said. Neither of the boys believed him, but Azmuth explained that in all his years, he had never found a bond between two beings this strong unless they were soul mates. The dragon and human made ugly faces at the statement, but Azmuth reassured that they were not soul mates. To the contrary, their souls vibrated at almost the same wave-length. While soul mates vibrated at the opposite end of the spectrum, their wave-lengths amplified the others and that may be the key to ending the war.

The two were excited about the news but didn't know how this would help. Azmuth, however, wanted the two to strengthen their bond. He was able to force Draco into human form and had them meditate and focus on the energy within them. The training was grueling, but after several months, their bond was strong enough for the two beings to pass energy. This was Azmuth's main idea, and as they were able to increase the passage of energy, they never noticed how much easier it was to use their abilities. For Artha, he soon realized that many of Draco's natural abilities passed into him.

The first he discovered was being able to breathe fire. Draco saw a difference in how he could manipulate the mana in his body and now he could transform into another dragon and mix and match their abilities at will.

This development was the most groundbreaking thing that had happened so far on the planet's history. Azmuth secretly recorded the training session of Artha and Draco, and analyzed them. After a few months of studying the two, Azmuth finally was able to create a few items to help the two fight the growing threat. He walked to them after one of their grueling training session, and told them to rest. As the two sat, Azmuth snapped his fingers and a glowing jewel appeared next to him. Artha and Draco stared at the gem and waited for Azmuth to explain.

"Boys, as you know you are unique in this world. A dragon and a human who are linked, almost sharing a single soul. However what if this wasn't true. What if there were more like you but they didn't know it? That is the question I have pondered over that last few months and believe I've finally solved. By combining a theoretical inquiry, and what I knowledge I've gained by studying the bond you share I believe this gem will have the power to find more like you. It is made from the most powerful of magical minerals on this planet, Orichalcum. The mineral is the only that can withstand the most intense amount of pressure caused by mana. If my theory is correct if you two use this gem, you'll find more souls like you who want to end with war and bring about peace."

Artha and Draco quickly understood what Azmuth was getting at and asked how to activate the crystal. Azmuth told them to give the gem a few drops of their blood and the gem with start on its own. However Artha knew better. The gem was already calling out but didn't know what to look for. This didn't stop him though. He quickly bit into finger and let a few drop fall onto the gem. Draco, who didn't trust the dragon, followed his partner's example. As his blood hit the gem, it started to glow an intense white, but soon the light changed to and intense dark red. Artha soon felt the pull of the gem and fell under its power. His pupils faded as a strong magical aura enveloped him.

"Patefacio vestri pectus pectoris, patefacio vestri mens. Permissum lemma exsisto sentio per extraho quisnam resonate per is animus. Extraho quisnam exsisto recedentia quod near permissum vos animus sono per is unus quod reperio vos socius a amicus, quod a pectus pectoris tribuo elucido per divinus unus!"

The spell soon reached across the continent and found a few humans and dragons that resonated with one another. They were shown mentally to Artha who agreed these were probably the best they could hope for.

"Extraho quisnam have electus a veho, exorior ut is locus quod sto praeter vos electus unus." Artha's aura soon fell and the spells greed took its toll on the young anodite. Draco quickly caught his friend and set him down. As Artha fell unconscious, he smiled as he looked and saw four new dragons and humans snuggled up together as if they had done this their entire lives.

When he awoke later he found himself snuggled up to his own dragon and smiled. However he was surprised to see the other humans sitting and talking with their dragons. He slowly lifted himself up to talk to them when Draco's wing pulled him back down. The dragon told him in a quick mental message he explained everything to them already, and that they were just as eager as Artha was to end the war.

The boys and dragon soon gather together and introduced themselves. They spent a few hour laughing, joking, and enjoying their new companions when Azmuth entered the room with a grave expression.

Everyone was afraid to ask so Azmuth told them. It seemed that for whatever reason the two sides were tired of the stalemate and decided one final battle would decide their fate. In 2 months the strongest of dragons, and anodites would assemble and fight to the bitter end.

Everyone took the news to heart and decided that they should start training as soon as possible. Azmuth then spoke up on a device he could craft to help with their training. He required something the held a special meaning to each of the humans and a scale and tooth from each dragon. Each dragon used their mag-beam to pull the scale and tooth from their bodies, while the human used their magic to summon their special item. As the items were presented to Azmuth, he began to write a long string of magi-alchemic equations. Once he finished, the equation began to blow like fire and wrapped around each on the items. The process took moments to complete and once it finished, the items they would be called Dragianium summoner were crafted.

Azmuth told them of the devices uses and that he believed another force was driving the hatred between humans and dragon. A shadow that latched itself onto anyone who felt a great lose in the years the war. The riders and dragons took his word into consideration, but for the moment they began training.

The two month deadline came quickly and both dragons and human were gearing up for the final assault.

Each army met at the edge of a large valley and waited for the attack to begin. The leaders of each race met in the middle of valley and gave each other the chance to surrender. However neither side considered this an option. Once each leader made it back to their camp, they shouted for them to attack.

Men and dragon charged each other with yells and roars being heard loud and clear. As the came with shooting range, spells and fire came flying from each side. However before they could reach the other side, a barrier appeared and reflected the spells and fire at their caster. Both sides were able to dodge the reversal and continued the charge. Until a roar unlike any other dragon echoed across the field. The roar held a strange power the cause both human and dragon to slow their attack. They looked to west of them and saw five silhouettes flying in at an incredible speed. The dragons thought it was reinforcements, but to their surprise humans were riding on the backs of the dragons. Human gave a cheer as they assumed they were allies. To their surprise the human jumped from the backs of the dragons and faced the dragons, while the dragons landed in front of the human army.

Each sided was confused but soon readied to trample the interlopers. This didn't happen as the humans started their charge once again. The dragons let out a mighty roar the echoed and knocked many of the humans off their feet. The dragon army soon started to charge but the human used their mana to stop them. The earth soon grabbed hold of every dragon and brought them back to the land. Its grip was unwavering no matter how much of their strength the dragons used.

The dragon king roared and the humans and ordered the others to launch an attack. The dragon did as they were told and launched a hail of flaming orbs. Each orb hit its mark and this pleased the dragon king. However the smirk was wiped clean when he saw the humans were still ok. What troubled him most was their skin. He saw the sign of what looked like scales, but he knew with was impossible. The leader of the anodites thought the same as he saw the five humans burned alive.

The human leader called out to the five warriors. "Who are you? Are you friend or foe?"

The answer he got was from the black dragon who was staring his troops down. "We are neither friend nor foe to humans or dragons. We want peace between the races." The human leader hmmphed and looked at the dragon with an angry expression. "You expect me to ignore the pain and suffering that my people have suffered at your kinds claws? I won't let go of my anger until everyone of your kind is dead and stuffed," the leader said.

The gold dragon heard the humans' words and growled. He began to tell his men to release another hail of fire, but soon he felt the power of someone stronger than him pulling for his attention. He looked down and saw it was one of the humans. The boys stare was aimed at him. "Dragon king why do you attack the humans, when it is the dragon's duty to protect this world alongside his brethren," Artha asked. The dragon king snorted as he replied, "The dragons will never stoop so low to protect such weakling such as you. We were destined to rule over all things on this planet. Humans are nothing more than our property." The riders and dragons expected these answers but now that they had trained and bonded, they could hear something else guiding the words of the leaders.

"War is not what you want. This war was unnecessary but was put into play by someone who wants all the anger and hatred to fuel a great bloodshed. You cannot see it for you and blinded by your hatred, anger, and pain. We will show you what really caused this war," Artha shouted. He looked to his left and right and nodded to his friends. Draco did the same and prepared a spell to break the unending chain hatred and violence. The rider and their dragons held their head down and they forced their mana into the ground to hold the two armies back.

"Lumen et vim amoris foedera rumpat odio dolor foedera rumpat. Videre et explicare in corde suo non est obscurum. Annuntiate in sua forma. Qui bellum munire rimas super cor suum aperiunt et reliquit in auxilium eorum."

The spell cast a warm and soft light over everyone on the battlefield and the memories each dragon and human felt rushed around in their heads. Each side could see and feel the pain and loss the other felt. It hurt to know that they caused each other pain, but what they did not notice was how their shadows reacted to the light. After a moment or so the shadows began to detach from each anodite and dragon. A wail of pain echoed across the field and once the shadow was removed from everyone, their feeling, and their true feeling began to surface.

To most the war only tag, but with death as the prize. They did not wish to continue it but something forced them to want vengeance. When they looked to towards the echoing cries, they were horrified at what they saw.

The creature had two eyes, one on his head and one on his chest. It resembled a traditional Grim Reaper. Its second skin is was modified to look like the hood of the Grim Reaper. Thefacet joints on his back are large and curved. The skin on his arms now hang down, much like sleeves. His teeth also look more like human incisors.

As the spell faded the creature soon stopped his cries and looked out at the two armies. He growled in an un-human voice and called out. "Damn you cursed being! I don't know where the spell came from or how you managed it but I won't let you interfere with my plans."

Everyone turned to the creature, but it was the dragon king who asked the question plaguing everyone's mind. "Who and what are you, you despicable abomination?" The creature smiled and happily answered. "I am the demon of hatred, pain, misfortune, and misery. The dark shadows of worst nightmares. I am the ruler of darkness, I am Zs'Skayr!"

The name of the phantom creature sent a shiver down the back of most of those gathered. The two leaders soon didn't care about their war, this new enemy for some reason struck them as a greater threat. As they ready their soldiers to attack the phantom, it laughed and waved its arm. Soon a blistering cold wind appeared and stopped everyone in their tracks.

"Fools if you only continued your war at least one of your pathetic species would have survived. Now I'm forced to destroy both of you," Zs'Skayr said with a twisted smile. He then stretched his arms wide and let his cloak wave in the wind. Soon pieces of it fell off and swirled around until they hit the ground. Those pieces soon bubbled and grew, taking the form of nightmarish ghouls. The creatures formed for the phantoms cloak were a few Loboans, Vladats, Thep Khufans, and Transylians. Everyone on the battlefield soon felt fear slowly creeping up their bodies. These ghouls were part of the stories that scared them as children. Even Zs'Skayr was one of those stories, the king of the nightmarish race, the Anur.

The dragons and human couldn't sense it but their fear was quickly being syphoned off by the phantom. The riders noticed this and decided to stop the creature from feeding. They quickly rushed towards the phantom. The phantom only smiled as he told his small army to attack.

The riders soon found themselves overwhelmed by the strength and abilities. Their dragons soon joined the fight and somewhat evened the odds. While there may have only been 100 of the Anur altogether, their abilities and combat prowess had the riders and dragons at a disadvantage.

The two armies watched frozen in fear for a long time until they saw the riders and dragons being buried the number of Anur. What surprised everyone was that it was a young anodite and dragon that started fighting the Anur army. The young anodite used his powers to make a shovel construct and dug at the Anur dogpile. The young dragon, Bull-class dragon, ran straight into the fray alongside the shovel construct. Even though the dragon was rather slow, its strength was more than enough to push, and barrel most of the Anur out of its way. Once it was near the near the riders and dragons, he told them he and another human were there to help. The young dragon closed its eyes and began to let its mag energy build at a high and accelerating rate. As it reach its max, the young dragon forced the energy outward. The attack hit every Anur and forced them up and away from the riders and their dragons. The young earth turner was a bit tired from using so much power at once, but when the young anodite ran to its side and check him over it felt slightly well.

The sight brought a smile to the riders face but quickly they started fighting again. The dragon and human armies soon found the courage again and started towards the smaller Anur army.

Zs'Skayr growls as his meal is cut short but this doesn't stop him from creating more minions. He then waves his arm once more and creates a scythe. "My meal was cut short because of those meddling dragon riders. I'll deal with them first, then kill the leaders," the phantom plotted. Moving swiftly, he took off towards the riders with his scythe at the ready. If the hadn't been using to fight multiple enemies, Zs'Skayr's sneak attack would have killed them in an instant. Luckily they were able to dodge, and Zs'Skayr's attack killed a few of his minions instead.

This did nothing to deter the phantoms attacks. He started attacking each rider, but soon started to focus his attacks on Artha. Artha did his best to keep moving while still dodging the others Anur. It wasn't until he hit a wall made of Thep Khufan bandages. The phantom smiled as he dropped his scythe. He flew straight at Artha with unparalleled speed. Artha quickly used his mana to create a barrier, but shockingly, the phantom phased through the barrier and straight into Artha.

Artha soon became aware of what Zs'Skayr was planning. The phantom had one other ability it liked to use, possession. Artha fought the phantom of control but he started to lose seeing how the phantom had over a hundred of years' worth of experience at possession. Draco felt his connection with Artha fading so he quickly ran to his rider. As he reached his rider, he looked at him and was horrified at the sight. Artha was screaming in pain and his body seemed to be flickering between Zs'Skayr and his original form. Draco called to his partner several times but nothing seemed to be working. The connection was almost gone before Draco did something desperate. He called on the Bloodstone. The crystal that now was purposed to find a human and dragon soul mate.

He let his energy into the gem and focused all his energy and thoughts on Artha. The bloodstone took Draco's energy as well as his feelings, and fired it into the plagued riders' body.

Meanwhile in the astral plain of Artha's body, the phantom had his claws wrapped around Artha's head. "Foolish human did you really think you could beat me? Me, the creators first creations," Zs'Skayr growled. He slowly began to drain to drain Artha's essence to end the boy, but something he didn't expected. A golden beam of light forced its way into the astral plain and hit Artha. The energy soon filled Artha, and it became unbearable to hold the boy for the phantom. He flung the boy away from him, but Artha didn't stay down. He got up slowly and looked at himself. The wounds his soul took were healing and after a moment the golden beam faded. Artha then looked up and thanked his partner.

The fight was soon became one sided. Zs'Skayr did everything he could to kill the boy, but Artha blocked every attack and pushed the phantom further and further back. For the first time since his first imprisonment, Zs'Skayr started to feel the very emotions he fed on. It didn't stop him though as he made one final strike. With his claws drawn he went for Artha's head. This however wasn't unseen by Artha. Who dodged the attack and gave the phantom and uppercut to the abdomen. Quickly Artha threw a right hook to the phantom's face. His attacks became furiously fast and each one filled with the same light that burned the phantom before.

Zs'Skayr's power was quickly exhausted and now was nothing more than a weakened beast. So with one last punch, Artha forced the phantom out of his body.

On the physical plane, the battle between Artha and Zs'Skayr echoed. The Anur at one point seemed to become unstoppable, but then they began to twitch and began to slowly fall apart.

When Zs'Skayr was forced out of Artha's body, the Anur completely vanished. Zs'Skayr however wasn't completely defeated. Pushing himself up and looked out at the two armies. He sneered and he took the last of his energy and focused it into an orb. He then flew into the sky and threw the orb at the land below. "If I'm going to lose then I'm going to take you all with me!" the spiteful phantom cried.

The orb hit the ground, but it soon started to twist the ground into a downward spiral. The spiral of energy had negative energy to it, and as spiral of dark energy grow, a storm above them started to appear.

Artha looked at the spiral but didn't have a clue how to stop it. A moment later Azmuth appeared, telling everyone to get away from the spiral. "The loathsome creature just tore open a portal to the Null Void. A dimension that is completely null of life but will not let its inhabitants die. If it allowed to continue it will eventually swallow this world."

"How do we stop it then," Artha says. However the expression Azmuth wears doesn't give him much hope. "I believe if we use the bloodstone and the power of you and your friends. You could force the portal closed but you'd need more power than you currently have," Azmuth said shaking his head. However what they didn't know was the other riders heard the conversation and looked at one another.

"Azmuth what if we merged with our dragons? Would we then have enough power to close the portal," a blonde rider asked. "In theory that my work but we don't know if a merger is even possible," Azmuth answered. The four looked between each other once more. "We've been practicing it. It's a little unstable but we can hold the merger for a few minutes," a raven rider said.

Artha didn't want to risk his friends' lives, but before he vocalize his opinion, someone snuck up behind him and knocked him out. The looked to see it was the red headed rider, who smiled and said, "What? If I didn't stop him he was going to talk us out saving the world. We don't have time to find another way to close the portal."

The four riders listened to Azmuth as he explained how they to the portal. The key was using the bloodstone as an amplifier and force their mana directly into Zs'Skayr. The portals were connected to him, so if they could overload or neutralize him, the portals would dissipate. However, the only flaw was with their powers unstable there was no telling if they'd be able to withstand any backlash from the portal closing. The four riders decided it was worth the risk and quickly went to stand at one edge of the portal.

The four worked quickly to fuse with their dragons, the first Dragon soul fusion. Because the four decided not to wear their dragianium summoner, their power was far stronger than what would happen in the future. This did pose a problem for them though, the power was almost uncontrollable. They fought hard to control themselves and when Azmuth threw the Bloodstone into the portal, the boys did as they planned.

As their magic hit the bloodstone, their powers were amplified to a near unmeasurable amount. They then used that power on Zs'Skayr. A red beam flew from into the sky and hit its intended target. Zs'Skayr couldn't escape the beam and once it struck he was filled with more power than he could ever hope to keep under his control. The phantom let out a final howl before his body was destroyed. The portal did as predicted and faded with Zs'Skayr, but what no foresaw was how the bloodstone reacted to the immense power of the four riders. The stone began to glow too bright as it rebound their powers back at them.

Their magic hit them and caused their unstable forms to stabilize, but not in the form they had hoped. All that stood in place of the four riders and their dragons were four shining gem that were constantly ebbing with immense amounts of mana.

Those who saw what happened felt a great lose as the four riders were changed into gems. When Artha awoke, the leaders of the dragons and human informed him what happened. They gave Artha the gems and told him that they owed him and his friends a great dept. Artha cried over the gems and when he thought he felt he had cried enough he told them he would bury his friends. Then come back to help rebuild their world.

Artha traveled across the continent and saw that the spell he and the others cast didn't free everyone from the darkness that Zs'Skayr set into motion. He did his best to end the fighting as he buried his friends near their hometowns. Most times he could release the pieces of Zs'Skayr attached to people but some people he couldn't. After burying his friends, he went to the site where Zs'Skayr died. The valley was peaceful at a glance but Artha since something dark in the air. He used his enhanced vision to see small dots of dark energy gathering reforming something.

He gasped when he saw Zs'Skayr's face being reformed. The phantom sensed him and looked at the boy. "You thought I could be destroyed that easily? I'm immortal as long as even one piece of me remains," the phantom said with sinister laugh. Artha balled up his fists thinking about his friends. Artha looked at the phantom and said, "Fine then if you can reborn then I'll make it impossible for you come back here." Artha called to the four gems and gather some of their power.

When Zs'Skayr looked at the mana Artha gathered, he stopped laughing and started to plead with the rider. Artha gathered just enough mana and chanted a spell to open a small portal to the Null Void. Portals pull was strong enough to pull all the particles of the phantom inside and closed instantly. From there Artha went back and took the reigns as the new leader of the humans. He then asked his partner to go and ruler over the dragons in hope the Dragon Human war never happened again.

~~~~~~Return to the Present~~~~~~

After hearing the tale in its entirety most of the riders in the room were shocked at how the Plumbers were formed. Azmuth for his part sat thinking about the lives he sacrificed and yet he did nothing to prevent the present war on their hands. "Now do you all understand what it is Aggregor is after," the grey dragon asked.

When he looked around the room he saw a few had figured out the puzzle but most were still lost. He sighed and looked out into the crowd. "Aggregor is not after untold power. He wants something far worse. He's after Zs'Skayr."

TBC...

Okay so what you think? I added that bloody ghost because I thought he'd make a nice new twist. Well hope to hear from you soon...