Warning, this story contains some rather violent and gory scenes. If you are uncomfortable with this, do not read.

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The constant dripping of water droplets echoed through the cave. A constant tune, each one fading into the other as though it was a loop of time. The cave was illuminated by soft glowing blue crystals, set neatly into the rocky walls, and giving off just enough light to see. The stone ground had been worn by centuries of use, scars and scratches cut into it from the inhabitants that used it.

A sudden scream broke through the silence. Agony resonated from the walls as the cry was cut short, leaving it to fade into the dripping of water. The scream was marked by a snarl of frustration and scuffle of talons against stone. Further into the cave, within a small cavern, were three dragons. Two of them had the dark ebony scales of shadow dragons and were standing over the third dragon.

He was golden yellow in colour, with two gracefully curved horns, long delicate wings, and a tensed tail. What marked this dragon apart however was that instead of scales he was had feathers. They covered his entire body, from the small tightly packed plumage at his snout to the long lustrous feathers of his wings. However, what was once beautiful and pristine was now stained red with blood. Torn out feathers covered the cave floor, leaving patches in the dragon's side left bloody, pale yellow skin. The dragon's breath was coming in ragged gasps, his eyes tightly closed as he struggled desperately against the pain.

"You ready to do what you're told, Bird?" snarled one of the shadow dragons.

"My name... is Kibre," muttered the feathered dragon, his voice barely above a murmur as he opened one eye to look at his assailants.

"What did you say?" the other shadow dragon spoke, her voice cracking with anger.

Kibre closed his eyes and ignored them, bracing himself for what he knew was to come next. The talons that struck him were imbued with darkness, sending cacophonies of pain through his body and forcing another scream to shake him. His head swirled in pain, blocking out all other thoughts. His entire body shivered and squirmed as he felt another trickle of blood worm its way down his side.

"Enough, Sharia," the male of the duo spoke, "We don't want to kill him."

"Well, if he's not going to help us then his is useless to us," snarled the dragoness, "We may as well put him out of his misery."

Kibre tried to laugh, though was cut short by a bout of agonizing coughing. The salty taste of blood flooded his mouth.

"Unless you are ready to tell us the way into your city from here I suggest you shut up," the shadow drake spoke with a snarl, before turning back to the female, "We are so close. Don't let your anger blind you now. We need to be clear-headed."

"Well with his screaming we may already be found out," muttered Sharia.

"We are very deep underground."

"And how are we even sure he knows the way?"

The feathered dragon felt the voices of the two arguing dragons fall into the distance as he allowed himself to drift. The pain was making it surprisingly hard to stay awake. But he wouldn't give them anything, no matter what they wanted. They were evil, and very stupid if they thought they could get away with sneaking into the light dragon kingdom through its underground tunnels.

Still, it stung his pride to find himself in the situation he was in and know that there was very little he could do about it. He had snuck down through these same very caves less than an hour ago. It was something he regularly did in order to escape the complexities of life in the light dragon city. As a rare feathered light dragon, and a hatchling to Lumiane the king of light, there were a lot of responsibilities thrust his way. He loved his life and tried to uphold his title as best he could, but when one was competing against nearly fifty other brothers it was difficult. Of course, he stood out because of his feathers, a fact which he held quite in high regard, but living up to expectations took quite a bit of effort.

Which was what made his current predicament so embarrassing. He should have never been caught off guard, especially not by shadow dragons of all creatures. He didn't even stand a chance as they pounced from the darkness, pinning him down and demanding he take them into the castle. They just... assumed that the tunnels lead there. They did, but that was beside the point. So, Kibre had led them through the tunnels, but instead of taking them to the castle he had brought them through as many twists and turns as he could until they were completely lost. Not even he knew where they were now. He paid heavily for his choice.

"Won't they notice he is gone soon?" Sharia rumbled.

"Well, he usually spends a couple of hours at the bottom of the cliffs. We have a bit of time remaining," the drake rumbled.

"A bit? For all, we know we have been down here for hours! It could be sunup already!" the dragoness snorted.

Kibre scoffed.

"I told you to keep quiet," the drake growled at him.

"He's not going to help us, Eyrangul."

"Then how else are we going to get out of here?" Eyrangul exclaimed, "We came here with a goal. We will complete it. We will kill Lumiane."

Kibre's eyes widened slightly. So that was what they wanted to do. It was a well-known fact, the hatred between shadow dragons and light dragons, spawned from the war centuries ago. Ever since then they had been at odds. If any ever found the other there was bound to be blood spilled. Kibre didn't fully understand it, but he knew it was his duty to protect his father. He couldn't let these two succeed, even if it meant sacrificing his life in order to do so.

Sharia sighed softly, and Eyrangul stepped over to her, touching his snout against hers, "We will have this victory. No matter what."

"No matter what," she agreed with a frightening sense of conviction.

The two of them turned to Kibre, who had still yet to move. The pain was beginning to wane, and part of him wondered if he could find the strength to summon a light beam strong enough to kill one of the shadow dragons. But from what he had seen and heard so far, these two were rather experienced in handling other dragons. He had to wait for the opportune moment when neither of them would expect it.

"You know," Sharia said with a sinister grin, "I think I might have an idea."

She walked over to the light drake, using her talon to carefully pick up one of his fallen feathers. Kibre watched her warily, uneasiness flowing through him as she looked directly into his eyes. With a small growl, she used her talons to cut at his side again. This time the light dragon didn't have the energy to roar, instead a small whimper escaping his throat as she pulled several more feathers from his side.

"Eyrangul, you stay here and guard our friend. I have something I need to do," she told the other dragon, before running off into the darkness, several of Kibre's golden feathers leaving a trail behind her.

Eyrangul watched her go, an understanding crossing over him and he let loose a chuckle, "I would suggest you tell us where to go now, Bird, because we will have what we want soon."

"I'm... not... a bird," growled the feathered dragon.

He hated that word. It was the one thing that really got on his nerves. He may have feathers but that was the only similarity he shared with the plumed flying creatures. To be compared to one of them was the greatest insult.

Eyrangul lowered his head so that it was level with the light dragon's, "You are what I say you are... Bird."

A small whisper of darkness escaped the shadow dragon's maw, stinging Kibre's snout. A snarl escaped the light dragon, and with a sudden surge of strength he launched himself at Eyrangul, a flash of light escaping Kibre's mouth His body hurt all over, and he had lost a lot of blood, but now that it was only one other dragon, he felt he had a chance.

But Eyrangul reacted quickly to the attack, fading into darkness and leaving Kibre striking nothing but air. He flailed for a moment, stumbling as he spun around to find Eyrangul, his breath heaving with the energy it took to sustain this amount of movement. Despite the glowing crystals in the walls, the cave was shrouded with shadow, making it easier for the dark dragon to sneak around Kibre. Fortunately, there was an easy way to counter this ability.

With a snarl Kibre spread his power throughout his body, his entire being suddenly lighting up in a blinding light. The shadows within the cavern were instantly chased away, returning the shadow dragon to the physical realm. With a growl Eyrangul opened his mouth, unleashing a torrent of dark energy at his feathered opponent. Kibre let out a cry as he was thrown back against the wall of the cave, leaving him stunned, unmoving.

Eyrangul stalked over to him with a snarl, "Where was this energy before, hah? Waiting for my mate to leave me before you could try and kill me, hah? Well, you will suffer greatly for that, Bird."

Kibre only groaned, his head swimming with both pain and dizziness.

"Sharia is going to be needing your feathers for her plan," the dark dragon snarled, "So we may as well rid you of them now."

With that Eyrangul raked his claws over Kibre's wing, tearing through it, as well as pulling out copious amounts of plumage. The light dragon whimpered and cried out in pain, trying to pull himself away from the angry drake. Eyrangul growled at him, pouncing on him and pinning him to the ground with one forepaw while using the other to scrape out more of Kibre's feathers. The light dragon tried his best to escape, struggling as much as he could, but there was no way he would rid himself of the stronger dragon.

"I thought we weren't going to kill him," Sharia's voice echoed through the cavern as she walked back in.

"The bird tried to attack me when you left," Eyrangul stopped for a moment to look at his mate, "I'm teaching him a lesson. Pulling out a few feathers won't kill him."

The dragoness looked over the cavern, which was covered in bloody golden feathers. She chuckled with a shake of her head, gathering more of them up in her claws.

"Then, by all means, don't let me stop you. I need them anyway. You keep doing what you are doing, and I'm going to spread these around the caves. See if they attract anyone," she said, before turning and walking off back the way she had come.

Eyrangul snickered, before turning his gaze back on the nearly unconscious light drake, "You hear that, bird. Someone will find us down here, and when they do they will have a choice. Watch you be torn apart or lead us to the exit. Then if they refuse, we will kill you, and do the same to them. Eventually, someone is bound to lead us to the top... and even if they don't, we kill a glorious amount of light dragons."

Kibre felt his heart fall. He was a popular dragon. Someone was bound to go looking for him when he didn't turn up the following morning. While they were quite deep in the caves, if Sharia spread his feathers out far enough, they would find some trace of him, and then his feathers would lead them to their deaths. He couldn't let that happen, he couldn't.

His thoughts were cut short as Eyrangul continued to pull out more and more of Kibre's feathers, scattering them over the cavern floor. He felt as though his entire body was on fire. Each rake of claws breaking through both his feathers and tough leathery skin. The world was swimming with his blood loss, and he fell unconscious multiple times through the process. Sharia came back every so often to collect more of his feathers to spread around the tunnels.

"I wonder, Bird, if I pull out all your feathers, will scales grow back in their place... you know... like a proper dragon?" Eyrangul asked at one point with a laugh.

Kibre didn't respond, barely conscious as he was. Several minutes later, Eyrangul stopped as his mate came rushing back into the cavern. Kibre didn't hear what they were saying, but some part of him was aware they were whispering. What he did hear though was the unmistakable voice of another dragon calling through the cave.

"Kibre! Where are you?" the voice was full of worry and fear. The voice of a mother.

His eyes flashed open in panic, his own barely audible voice croaking out, "No..."

The two shadow dragons looked at each other, seeing his reaction. With a smirk, they both left the cavern, the light dragon far too injured to move even if he wanted to. Kibre watched them go with wide eyes. He tried to force himself to his feet to go after them, to open his mouth to roar out a warning, but nothing worked. His body was too weak, too damaged. His panic began to run through him like a hurricane as his mind began to picture what the shadow dragons would do to his mother. She was just like he was, a feathered light dragon.

"No... no... no," he groaned out as he tried to push himself to his feet again, unable to do so, "Please no."

He had to stop them. He had no choice. No other option. But his body wasn't moving. His limbs weren't working. He couldn't even cry out a warning. He had nearly no feathers left on his body. They were all either scattered and broken lying around him or spread through the caves in a trap that would lead to both his mother's and his death. He couldn't allow that. It was his own fault that he was in this situation. It was the damned shadow dragons and their need for revenge. He couldn't let them win. He couldn't let his own mistake be the cause of this.

"Noooo!" He cried, tears falling from his eyes as once again he tried to stand, only for his body to fail him yet again.

Suddenly a scream echoed through the cave, one that was all too familiar and all too dreadful. Upon hearing that scream, something within the light dragon broke. Gone was his rational mind. Gone were all the thoughts about his pain and weakness, his failure, and hopelessness. The scream pierced right through him, digging right down deep into his consciousness like a beam of light into the darkness.

He needed to get up. He needed to fight. He needed to destroy those that dare hurt him and those he cared about. A well of power opened up within the dragon, something that had already been inside him, but he had never realised before. And out of that well poured a power unlike anything he had felt before. It flooded through his entire body, boiling his blood and searing his soul. The very space around his twisted and contorted as though reality itself struggled to encompass the enormity of this strength. His eyes glowed as bright as the sun, and his very flesh began to dissolve into pure blinding light. The power took over his entire body, and the light dragon exploded. Glowing light energy spread in all directions.

The walls of the cave fell away into molten rock, revealing more tunnels and crevices beyond. The blue crystals exploded at the intense heat generated from the golden light as it expanded at a rapid pace. Gone was the mind of the dragon controlling it. All that was left was pure uncontrollable power in the form of a golden light that continued to expand. The two shadow dragons had tried to run when they felt the power, but it caught them before they had a chance. Their scales, skin, and even bones were incinerated in the blinding light.

Even Kibre's mother, an older feathered light dragoness, could not escape, meeting the same fate as the two shadow dragons under her own son's impeccable rage. The light spread through the tunnels, going further and further, destroying everything in its path. Even the molten rock bubbled over, evaporating into thin air. What had once been a labyrinth of tunnels and caves became one massive cavern filled with an angry and blinding light. The earth and stone that formed the roof of the cavern, now with no substance to hold it up, fell away and into the dissolving light, bringing with it countless trees and animals that all were instantly incinerated.

A large full moon shone down on the expanding light as more and more of earth fell into it. But it couldn't last for long. The power waned, its echoing aura faltering as it suddenly imploded in the opposite direction, leaving a giant gaping hole in the ground. The light centered on the edge of the hole, where all its power came back into a single glowing golden ball. Even that began to dissipate, revealing, glorious golden yellow wings with a full plumage of feathers. The light became solid once again, returning back to an unconscious dragon, who was completely healed from all his injuries.

The sun slowly began to rise on the horizon.

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Okay guys! Here we go! The Chronicle of the week... So what did you think? I had a hard time trying to figure out exactly how to go about writing a light equilibrium... but man I enjoyed it XD. We will be seeing Kibre again, and we may even see a story about the two shadow dragons at some point as well. As for the next story, it will be Living Mountains. After that there will be a new set of five stories to choose from. Hope you enjoyed, see ya!

Pennator^^