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The Deterioration started three years ago. Gyssel remembered the day well, she had made sure to remember it, as it was the most frightening day of her life. She remembered waking up feeling tired, her body acting as though she had just been throttled in a fight. Gone was any of her previous strength. Flying had been tiring, talking had been tiring, and as she attempted to use her powers they were weak and unresponsive. She had tried to ignore it at first, not telling anyone in fear of what it could mean, but it was only a matter of time before the others noticed.

In the first month of The Deterioration she began to grow sick, and she could feel her bones grating against one another as she walked and flew. Scale rot began to infect her body, and the first few scales began falling out toward the end of the month. Others began to notice and looked upon her with sorrow and pity, which made it all the worse. Carers were offered and turned down. Family visits became more common, which she was happy for, but she could see the sadness in her children's eyes. They knew what this was as well as any of them. Six months in her abilities left her, the strength and power of gravity fleeing her grasp so she could no longer bend the element to her will, her body too weak to focus on power. A year later she lost the ability to fly, her wings far too weak to keep her aloft, forcing her to remain in a cave atop a mountain, watching the world pass by below her. Six months ago, she struggled to even walk, every step an excruciating expanse of willpower that was too much effort for an elder dragoness like her.

But now, three years had come, and Gyssel no longer felt the fear she had the first day. She knew that the day would be her last. She envied humans that. Their deterioration period was far longer than a dragon's, lasting decades, and no one knew when the final day would be. But every dragon knew, three years from the day The Deterioration began would be that dragon's final day on earth. It was the day that dragon died. No matter how powerful, how influential, no one could stop it. Not the ever-growing knowledge of human medicine, not the greatest and most knowledgeable life dragon, not even the power of equilibrium. It was as if some divine being decided that eventually a dragon's body would fail, not allowing any to live forever.

"Mum... are you awake?" came a rather timid and frightened voice to her right.

Gyssel opened her eyes, moving her head slightly to look up at the dragon that had entered her cave. Another elder dragoness, and Gyssel's oldest hatchling, Evoria. Gyssel allowed herself a smile, slowly raising her head, an action that took a pitiful amount of effort. Evoria's pale sky-blue scales had been polished and shined to perfection. Her talons had been sharpened, and the spikes running down her back cleaned and refined. Her wings shuffled on her back nervously as she looked at her mother with sad eyes.

"I... am now," Gyssel said, her voice sounding far too weak compared to what it had been not too long ago.

"How... are you feeling?" Evoria asked, knowing the answer already.

"Like death," chuckled Gyssel, "Oh, my daughter, don't look so upset. It had to come eventually."

"I know... it's just hard to see you like this. You have always been so strong."

"Well this will be the last day you have to see me like this," responded Gyssel comfortingly, "I am tired, Evoria, I have lived a long life, longer than most dragons, and I am interested in seeing what adventures lie beyond the end."

"If there is anything there," muttered Evoria.

"Ever the skeptic," rumbled an amused Gyssel, "Now, are you going to bring me up to where the others are waiting or not?"

Her daughter allowed herself a small smile. Gyssel felt herself become weightless and her body began to float up from the ground. She didn't panic, she was used to this by now. Moving her through zero gravity was far simpler than rigging something up that allowed her to be moved as they did in the other nations. Besides, floating through the air at the whims of another dragon's powers was the closest she had been to flying in a year and a half. That was the one thing she had missed. She could go without her abilities, or accept the loss of scales, but the loss of use in her wings was the one thing she had struggled with.

Evoria, using her abilities, began to move her mother to the exit of the cave. The nest, made from cotton and pillows, had several scales scattered throughout, the normally pale blue colouring corrupted and darker than it usually was, with splotches of dark ill green. Gyssel had very few scales left now, leaving the sensitive leathery blue skin below open to the world. Again, it was something that had worried Gyssel in the first year, but she had eventually learned to accept it. It wasn't like she was going to really need scales for the rest of her time on earth.

"How... many ended up coming?" she asked Evoria softly.

"Most of my half brothers and sisters," Evoria responded, "Several of my hatchlings, and theirs."

Evoria had been in Gyssel's first clutch, when she had only been fifteen years old. Her mate back then had died during the Ashen wars, and after they had finished Gyssel had found another mate, and they had stayed together for nearly three centuries before he had also fallen prey to a rogue group of dragons in a skirmish against the gravity dragon's city. It had been a sad day for many of them. Afterward, Gyssel didn't feel good about finding someone else, not after being with one drake for so long. She had mourned, of course, but moved on from the death that had happened over a hundred and fifty years previously.

Very few dragons found themselves reaching Gyssel's age. Many died in battle, natural disasters, and other such things. A dragon reaching equilibrium was also a big killer. Gyssel had heard that the last dragon who had reached the breaking point was a crystal drake within the earth kingdom. Apparently, millions had been slaughtered in the resulting chaos. It was strange how a power so coveted also resulted in the death of many.

The two of them moved into the air, Evoria using her powers over gravity so she didn't even have to flap her wings, creating a soft gravitational pull toward the side of the mountain, walking up it like it was the ground, Gyssel floating behind her. The deteriorating dragoness yawned as they moved, taking the opportunity to stretch out her old legs and wings, feeling a slight breeze cross over her skin. It made her shiver softly with glee. Maybe she should have accepted a carer. They would have been able to take her outside like this, allowing her to enjoy the view over Gravitational city.

Much like most dragon cities, Gravitational city had been built within a mountain range. It had tall peaks that broke into the sky above. The city was in the middle of a desert, where brown coarse sand stretched for miles in either direction. From their vantage point, Gyssel could see the very edge of the desert, which broke into green fields and forests, which then lead to another mountain range where the City of the Mind originated. But Gyssel always believed that Gravitational city was the greatest of them all, because of one simple factor. The entire city was floating in mid-air.

It was a pride of many gravity dragons to have achieved something so monumental, and it required the work of hundreds to keep the city from falling back to earth. At every moment of the day and night, there were at least four hundred dragons using their powers to help the city stay in the sky. There was a field of zero-gravity below the city, which remained a popular spot for younger dragons who liked to swim and play in the large lake that was also below the city. On either side of the city were two tall peaks, each with its own pulling gravitational field that kept the city from simply floating off.

Gyssel had worked as part of the team that kept the city afloat at many points in her life. It was an important, if rather boring, role. She had become a rather powerful dragon in her later years and believed she could have likely achieved one of the roles all by herself. But she hadn't worked as one of those dragons for over a century.

"Do you think my deterioration will start soon?" Evoria asked, breaking Gyssel out of her train of thought.

Gyssel looked at her, slightly surprised at the question, "I don't know."

Evoria was rather close to her fifth century now and was of the age where dragons started to find themselves on the cusp of death. Gyssel herself was 512, which was an astounding age to live to, most dragons, even when they did die of old age, didn't live many years over 500. Evoria was 497, very close to the end of her life.

"Is it frightening?"

"At first? Yes... very frightening. But... I am at peace with it now. I am not afraid of death..." Gyssel sighed softly.

In reality, part of her wanted to remain in the world of the living. There were still so many things that she wanted to do and see. She wanted to travel to the fire kingdom and meet the new queen. She wanted to discover more about the powers of gravity, and finally achieve the ability to create multiple different gravity fields at once. She wanted to spend more time with her family, see further into the many generations that came from her. But in the end... she felt she had done much in her life. She had fought and survived the Ashen wars, even if her first mate hadn't. She had gone to see much of the world, been through periods of peace and strife. She had been a teacher and mentor, a mother and friend. She had even talked face to face with one of the seven elements, Gaia, the element of earth, something which very few dragons could claim.

Many of the things she had dreamed of as a hatchling had not come to pass, but that didn't upset her. She had seen those things come to pass in her hatchlings and her hatchling's hatchlings. That was enough for her. A smile crossed her snout at the thought.

"How can you not be afraid of death?" asked Evoria.

"Because... it is my time," Gyssel sighed, "My time... to leave this world behind. I have made many mistakes and achieved many successes. My life has been full, and I know you don't think there is anything after your gone... but I have hope that one day I will see everyone again. There is something out there that will be there to guide our souls through death."

"I know," Evoria rumbled, hanging her head slightly as she continued to walk up the side of the mountain, "It's just... no one can ever be sure. It's never been proven."

"That's why we have hope... and Evoria, I would rather live with that hope and be wrong, then never have it in the first place," Gyssel sighed, she could feel the tiredness creeping through her body, trying to drag her into a final sleep.

"I know," Evoria repeated, though she said it warily, as though she still didn't quite agree.

The two of them arrived at the top of the mountain, Evoria once again shifting the gravity as they stepped onto a plateau. The mountain was one of the taller ones of the city, giving those on top an amazing view of both the entirety of the city, as well as glimpses of other lands. The border of the earthen nation lay to the north, and the corners of both the water and sky nations were visible as well. It was nearly as good as flying.

Gyssel allowed herself a smile as she looked upon those that had been waiting for her. A crowd of gravity dragons, well over a hundred, all relatives or offspring. She had lain ten clutches in her lifetime, and while many of her hatchlings had already died in one way or another, many had had hatchlings of their own, and then they had hatchlings, and so on. It was amazing how far a family could go in the span of five hundred years.

"Hello mother," a drake, Yudon, spoke, bowing his head to the elder dragoness.

"Yudon," Gyssel nodded back as Evoria lay her down in a cloth nest that had been made at the top of the mountain.

Her family gathered around her, and Gyssel looked over them, trying her best to convey some measure of strength. It had been a long time since they had all been together, and much to Gyssel's embarrassment she found it slightly difficult to remember all of their names.

"Is today really the day?" Yudon asked solemnly, as if not want to believe it.

"It should be," Gyssel responded, knowing it to be true.

Every moment awake was growing more and more difficult for the elder dragoness, but despite what she had said to Evoria earlier, she found herself hanging on to the last threads of life, desperate to spend the last such moments surrounded by those she loved. That was one good thing about the three-year countdown to death. One knew exactly when they would die and could organise the event with that knowledge. The thought for her was rather amusing.

Evoria took a deep breath as she stood beside the resting dragoness, "Thank you all for coming today. As many of you may know... we are here to celebrate my mother, Gyssel, in her final day with us on this earth. We have known this day would come for a long time now, and have prepared for it, but I think that I speak for us all when I say... we will miss you, mother."

A murmur of agreement echoed over the plateau. Gyssel could see the glistening sadness upon many of their faces. She had raised many of them, both as a mother and a grandmother. A voice of wisdom for some, a beacon of fortitude for others. But they had also taught her. As a young dragon, she had been so focused on what she wanted to do in her own life, pursuing her dreams, finding love, making a mark on the world. She had done those things... but towards the end of her life, they hadn't been what drove her. Through watching her hatchlings, and theirs, she realised that all her success, her pursuits, they would be nothing without the family that came from them. She wasn't the richest dragon alive, nor the most powerful, nor the most influential, but as she looked over her family she felt satisfied that she had left behind a legacy that would be good to the world. Dragons that were willing to stop and help, willing to do the menial tasks if called upon, while also being a benefit to those around them.

"Mother, if you would like a speaking trumpet..." Evoria began to whisper.

Gyssel shook her head, taking her own deep breath. With a grunt she forced her legs underneath her, pushing with as much effort as she could muster. Her daughter let out a grunt of surprise, taking a step back. It was the first time Gyssel had had the strength to stand in months or at least the first time she had tried. But she felt the need to do so once again, to look her lineage in the eye as she talked to them. Despite her frail body, she was a massive dragon, bigger than any of those before her, even if Evoria was around the same size.

"Y...yes," Gyssel began, trying her best to project her voice as she had been able to do in her prime, "I do... thank you all for coming. It is... a blessing to me... to see you all gathered here today. A small part of me feared... not many would show up... but it seems I have... been able to provide at least some... small benefit to your lives."

She chuckled before continuing, "I see many of you...looking upon me with sadness. I am... in a bit of a sorry state... I must admit... but I do not wish for mourning... to be on your hearts this day. You see... this death that I face... is an inevitable part of all of our lives. A necessary part... of the world around us, in which no one is able to escape. But... do not think this is a bad thing. As... as I said to Evoria earlier... the idea scared me at first. It is frightening. But I am no longer scared. I have... lived a long life, as have several of you. I have seen... both the best... and the worst of the world. I have fought... I have loved... I have lived. Maybe... my life hasn't been the best possible... but I do not think there is... a best possible. But... I am complete. And that is why I stand... here today... on my final day... with a smile."

Gyssel felt the world swimming before her, and she staggered into Evoria.

"Mother lay down, you don't need to –" Evoria began.

"Yes... yes I do," the elder dragoness whispered, taking a deep shuddering breath, before forcing her body to her feet once again, "But... before I leave... I want to depart something to you... something that I have learned... and I believe everyone should know. The secret to live... a complete life. It doesn't lie... in your successes. It doesn't lie... in finding the love of your life, the perfect mate. There is no such thing. It doesn't lie... in your best friend... in your actions... in your morality. It doesn't lie... in happiness. If you want to be complete... all you need to do... is look up... up at the sky... the stars... and realise... your purpose... is not... your own..."

Gyssel couldn't stand any longer. Her legs buckled underneath her, and she collapsed into the nest, breathing shallowly. She was so tired, more tired than she had ever been. She could hear shouting around her, but it was dulled by the pounding of her heart in her hearing glands. Her body could no longer move, and the world around her became somewhat glossy as if the light shone brightly upon every part of the city. A beacon. It was beautiful. She would stare it at forever if she could. But she just...felt...so...tired...

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Hey guys! Chronicle for the week for you! My Christmas present to you all XD I know this was a rather solemn story... but it did get the majority vote... and I think it is a surprisingly relevant one considering the holiday. But what did you all think? This was a surprisingly difficult one to write, but I liked the outcome. What did you think of Gyssel and Evoria? And what did you think of the ceremony of a dragon's death? And as always... vote on the next story you would like below.

Binding Souls: Yivian, Mind drake - 47Yrs BTA

Crashing Powers: Ingun, Ice drake - 3Yrs BTA

The Strength of Talons: Elessia, Chaos Dragoness - 22Yrs BTA

Which shall come out on top? XD Till next week, See Ya!

Pennator^^