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The horizon was burning. A line of red that stretched as far as the eye could see in each direction, as though it circled the entire world. Heat rolled over the usually icy cold savanna, dry tufts of grass bursting into flames. The snow atop the mountains had long since melted, leaving trickling streams running down cliff faces and hills. But replacing the snow were scales. Icy blue, creamy white, forest green, and more. Millions of dragons, grasping cliff faces, perching atop mountain peaks, rustling and growling with increasing agitation, their scales lit by the steadily approaching red wall of fire.

"So she did it... of course she did," Polliar, queen of the sky, spoke, her voice calm and collected, but with a shade of despair.

Ingun, her second in command, an ice dragon with pale blue scales and a spiky frill of horns on his head, nodded solemnly, his own anguish palatable to her own. They had thought they would be at least protected from that direction, as where the red wall of fire was now had once been the largest and most deadly mountain range in the world, dubbed as the Living Mountains. Many that entered died, seeming to have been crushed by sentient rock and crushed by mountains whose peaks broke through the sky. But they were gone now, reduced to molten rock by a wall of living fire that burned its way rapidly toward them.

"I've gathered our elite, your majesty," the ice drake spoke to his queen, "58 dragons of equilibrium of a mixture of ice and wind, with an extra 43 spared by the other species."

They hadn't expected this attack to come so quickly and had been ill-prepared to fight back. It could take weeks for reinforcements to come from the earthen and water nations. If they were lucky they would maybe only last a couple of days against the wave of fire heading in their direction.

"So few?" sighed the queen, "How many of them are water dragons?"

"Eleven your majesty. We also have eight acid dragons and 27 ice dragons who can support them," Ingun replied factually, hardening his resolve.

"It may not be enough," Polliar responded sadly.

"Maybe we'll be lucky and she didn't bring any dragons of equilibrium with her," replied the ice drake, looking for some optimism.

"You know as well as I do how little difference that will make to our chances."

"Even so, your majesty, we can't despair," Ingun responded, "If we don't stop her here..."

"I'm well aware of the consequences if we lose," growled Polliar, sitting up straighter and taking a deep breath, "Have the hatchlings, their caretakers, injured, and humans been evacuated?"

"Yes, your majesty."

She let out a sigh, "Good."

"I have all the elite in the canyon below... I will be joining the first wave. I think we should leave you back. If she makes it past our first defence, we will need your power if we have a chance at holding her back," Ingun said, "I'll leave twenty-five equilibria with you... just in case."

"Splitting our forces may not by wise Ingun."

"In this case, I disagree. Having multiple waves of elements to break through will exhaust her. If we tried all at once, she could overwhelm us with a push of power. This forces her to break through multiple easier waves... and will require much more effort."

Polliar looked down at her second in command, before nodding her head. He could see she wanted to fight. She didn't want to sit and wait for the enemy to come to her. But she was the strongest among them, and if she fell the army would lose heart. If she fell, their chance of finding victory would go from unlikely to impossible.

"If you say so Ingun," Polliar replied with a sigh, "Be careful alright."

"I will try my best your majesty," Ingun grinned at her, before stepping off the mountainside they had been sitting on.

He plummeted into the valley below, where a small crowd of dragons was waiting. He let out a roar toward them. He had already briefed them on his plan before he spoke to the queen, and they were ready to lift themselves into the sky. He swooped past them, and they lifted off to follow him, leaving twenty-five behind on the ground, watching them go. As the group of dragons lifted over the mountains, more dragons leaped from their perches to follow. No one said a word, the only sound the multitude of flapping wings, thundering through the sky.

Millions rose up to join them, a cloud with many colours of the rainbow. The creamy white of wind dragons, the forest green of earth dragons, the deep blue of water dragons, the opallic hue of crystal dragons, the silvery sheen of metal dragons, the marshy green of acid, and finally the frosty pale blue of ice. It had been over half a millennia since such an army of dragons gathered, and Ingun felt an odd sense of pride leading them into battle.

But that pride was quickly snatched away from him as he beheld the wall of fire growing steadily closer. It was as tall as any mountain, reaching from the lowest valleys to the tallest peaks, incinerating any clouds that passed through it. The heat it radiated was like the sun, making the air under his wings painful to fly through. He had never felt so small under the threat of an enemy. He growled, looking back at his small team of equilibrium dragons, and nodding his head. It was time.

He pulled at the power deep within his stomach, within his soul. The power that had become such a part of him over the centuries of his life. It rushed through his body to greet him like an old friend, overflowing like an unblocked river. The very air around him began to vibrate and contort, and he closed his eyes, relishing the feeling. Ice began to cover his body, freezing over his scales and claws. A cold wind rushed outward from him, causing the dragons around him to back away. The heat around him faded away, replaced by freezing cold. The drake let out a sigh of welcome relief as his physical body slowly dissipate as every aspect of him became one with his element, the only thing left behind was a blizzard of living ice and snow. The perfect equilibrium of consciousness and nature. Soul and element.

The other dragons of equilibrium around him followed, and waves of power ruptured the battlefield. Reality itself seemed to ripple in waves, causing the wall of fire to waver softly. The physical bodies of over seventy dragons wavered and changed, combining with the purity of their element. Entities of the unbridled force of wind and ice, the unwavering might of the ocean and the earth, the steadfast strength of crystal and steel, and the devouring hiss of acid. Ingun allowed his own power to run free, expanding out in front of the army as a swirling snowstorm of jagged ice and cold, the other equilibria of ice integrating seamlessly into his power as together they grew and grew to face the coming firewall.

The equilibria of wind spread out over the bulk of the army, pure beings of wind, invisible to the naked eye, that would enhance the entire army, creating favourable winds that would both speed and protect them, and crushing any that would come against them. The power of the ocean speared forward, the ten water equilibria joining together to form a giant floating lake, ready to break through the fire to the army that was sure to be on the other side, while the equilibria of earth descended to the ground, joining themselves with the soil and rock, causing it to ripple and crack in earthquakes as they spread through the ground. The hissing intensity of acid combined with the ocean, the green corrosive liquid readily to dissolve any physical apparition it came up against. The metal and crystal moved above the army, an impenetrable shield of liquid steel and malleable opallic crystal, moving and expanding as one.

And so they moved toward the wall, an army of millions with some of the greatest power the physical elements had to offer. But still, Ingun couldn't help but feel small. The firewall still spread far further in length and height than even the furthest of the equilibria, and it was all done by a single dragon. A single flame. Ingun focused his thoughts, feeling the freedom of movement as his snowstorm grew further still, stretching thousands of dragon-lengths in all directions, and getting bigger still. There was only one dragon they needed to kill. If they got her, then the wall would fall, and the war would be won.

The snowstorm roared, a sound of cascading winds and freezing ice, a battle cry of the elements. The ocean surged forward, acting as the frontline. It boiled and hissed, steam beginning to rise as it charged toward the firewall. But that steam was only added to its power, a smoky haze surrounding the streaming water and condensing once again to prevent itself from evaporating. Water was their best chance of breaking the firewall. But before the two elements clashed, a hole opened up within the wall, and through it a roaring mass of chaotic red energy surged.

The red energy, though smaller than the combined water equilibria, moved with such speed and power that it punctured deep into the body of the floating ocean, spreading out with chaotic tendrils and tearing through the water in a single movement, exploding the several equilibria apart in a near-instant, spreading through them like a horrendous infection. The equilibria were forced to rebuild themselves from their several parts, each combining into a single lake once again, while Ingun directed the snowstorm he was apart of at the red chaos energy.

Inside he felt his hopes for victory drop. There were other dragons of equilibrium there, but he quickly shook off the thought as he sent his icy being toward the chaos, spearing and ripping through it with a cold wind and icy tendrils sharp enough to cut stone. He was bigger than the chaos equilibrium, overwhelming it easily, the ice storm shrouding it and attacking from many sides like millions of insects, icy and snow cascading into the red chaos as it struggled to free itself from the swirling frost. But Ingun's focus was split, and he didn't notice as the wall of fire began to tilt toward the army, descending like a tidal wave upon a fish.

Fireballs were thrown from the wall, crashing into the army and quickly spreading, like mini firestorms, attacking both equilibria and average dragons alike. The crystal and metal equilibria moved to defend, taking the brunt of the attack and striking out with long tentacles of steel and diamond, catching and detonating the fireballs before they could do any real damage. But they couldn't get them all. One detonated right above Ingun as he struggled to contain the chaos equilibrium in his grasp. The fire moved with a will of its own, piercing into the snowstorm in an explosion that ruptured a hole through it.

An equilibrium didn't feel pain, instead, the damage was represented by a sudden loss of energy, which if given time was recoverable, but if they lost enough, they would revert back to a physical form. As the fireball crashed into Ingun, he felt a startling loss of energy, his entire being shivering from the attack, and the chaos he was containing seemed to feel it, quickly driving itself into the weakness and exploding outwards. Ingun was forced to back off, in fear of being reduced back to a dragon if he tried to combat both the fire and the chaos.

Bolts of yellow lightning shot out from the firewall, striking the other snowstorms, adding zapping light as ice battled electricity. More holes opened within the wall, and thousands of dragons poured through, arching elements of fire, light, lightning, and chaos. A collective roar rose up from the opposing army as more abilities were added to the mix. Wind and ice equilibria tried to tear at the first wave of dragons but were stopped by a brilliant glowing light that raced into the battlefield, echoing power as it pushed them back. Chaos equilibria shrouded that attacking dragons, empowering them with red energy as they forced themselves into the army. Lighting arched outward, jumping from dragon to dragon in a single strike that sent hundreds falling from the sky. Blood ran as dragons empowered by wind met dragons empowered by chaos, strength vs speed. Tornadoes swirled into existence, throwing off the balance of many of the attackers, allowing metal dragons sped by wind to shred through scales and flesh with thousands of tiny whizzing metal spikes. Crystal and ice dragons did much the same, guided by the wind as they ducked and dodged, using their elements to pierce through their opponents.

Ingun had collected himself after the attack, recovering his strength as he began to grow once again. A raging ice storm as he began to expand through the attacking dragons, sending shards of ice into their flesh and bone. A lightning equilibrium struck against his raging being, trying its best to protect its kin, but Ingun knew how to deal with such an annoyance. He twisted the storm into a tornado of freezing ice and wind, rotating it at impossible speeds as he tore through the attack line, throwing the equilibrium into a desperate chase as it struggled to find a purchase within the storm to do any real damage. Still, Ingun grew, expanding the reach of his power greater and greater, striking in a million different directions at once. Shards of ice struck attacking fireballs. He encased the burning essence of a light equilibrium that had broken through the army prematurely, not yet big enough to hold itself against the other raging equilibria, and with a single grasp crushed it in his icy exterior, returning it back to a dragon, which he then froze with a single thought. And still, he grew, his attention turned upwards to the descending firewall.

The calm coolness of ice governed him, ridding him of fear and doubt. It focused his thoughts, allowed him to see clearly what he needed to do. There was only one way to win this battle, and that was to drive a spike of ice into the heart of the dragoness that started this all. To do that he needed to find her within the flames.

Below him, he felt mountains of earth rising from the ground, shards and boulders striking up from below at the attack dragons, and calm slopes catching the fallen and injured to transport them away from the battlefield. A light dragon's wings were shredded to pieces by a whirlwind, and she fell screaming from the sky, the scream abruptly stopped by a glittering crystal spike sawing through her throat. An acid dragon screamed as he was caught by a far larger chaos dragon, who crushed his neck with teeth and talons.

Ingun continued onward, ascending toward the falling flames, now big enough that the fireballs did little to damage him. His storm now covered nearly a third of the battlefield, his ice a refreshment for his allies and a freezing prison for his enemies. He could feel lightning equilibria rising through this exterior as they tried to match his growth, his being flinching at their continued attacks as they zapped away his ice shards and heated his icy wind. The chaos equilibrium that had escaped him before now attacked the base of the storm, trying to drive it apart and destroy as much of it as possible. Ingun pulled away from it, knowing that the driving force of chaos was stronger than the holding force of ice. Instead, he grew over it, encasing it in the storm much as he had done before.

But his overwhelming strength didn't last much longer, as suddenly as the firestorm crashed into him. It was like an enormous burning weight had descended upon him. Streams of fire pierced into his exterior just as he did with the fire, using his extreme cold to extinguish as much of it as possible. His storm managed to fracture the wall, causing it to shiver as he continued to drive as much strength as possible into the wall, splitting the wave around him with a roar. But the fire was hardly phased, falling down upon the army of the sky, earth, and ocean. The metallic equilibria that had spread over the top of the majority of the army took the full front of the attack, the metal glowing red as they also reached out in an attempt to fight off the falling flames.

Ingun roared out as he breached the top of the wall but quickly realised his mistake as flames began to curl through the base of his storm, embracing him closer to the flames. He began to focus on the rest of his being, turning himself into a raging cyclone, making it difficult for the flames to find any purchase within his storm before being snuffed out. But the several lightning equilibria and the chaos one was also growing in size, striking through his storm in an attempt to bring him down. He could feel the ferocity of his power lessening slowly as he struggled to keep up against the multiple foes.

Fire flowed down onto the army below. Wind struggled to protect its sources as they fought desperately against element, flesh, and bone. The entire battlefield was ablaze with swirling flames. A metal drake was devoured by them, cooked alive from the inside of his expanded silver shell. Every elemental breath a water dragon tried to make instantly evaporated into mist. The heat drew many short as the remaining ice equilibria quickly rushed through the army in an attempt to cool them down from the rampaging flames. There were only two or three water equilibria left that were able to combat make dents in the flames, trying their best to extinguish them while being assaulted from all sides by lightning, chaos, light, and fire.

A powerful explosion from within the flames suddenly ripped Ingun apart from his bottom half, extinguishing the storm and he couldn't help but let out a mental gasp as his power was nearly halved in a single attack. The flames seemed to have grown tired of his resistance and now began to surround him in hundreds of flaming spears, each one piercing into the depths of his remaining storm. Ingun roared in elemental agony, writhing against his opponents as he struck out with his own power, streams of freezing wind and shearing spikes of ice, forcing the fire around him to extinguish. But it seemed that no matter what he did, there was always more to combat, slowly expanding around him, engulfing his freezing storm in flames. He could feel himself growing smaller and smaller, the power he held slipping from his grasp in droves. With one final cry of despair his power waned, the storm imploding into itself, ice and frost combining once more into solid flesh and bone. Icy blue scales and piercing yellow eyes.

Ingun barely had the strength to flap his wings. He opened his mouth, blasting the fire with a stream of icy wind and snow from his mouth in a final attempt to fight back, but it was useless. His strength left him, and he fell limply into the flames, his eyes half-lidded as he plummeted from the sky. The fire was everywhere, surrounding him, almost taunting him as he fell through it. The swirling colour of red, yellow, and orange looked almost beautiful to his addled brain. It felt as though he was falling forever, and when he hit the ground, it reminded him of landing in a soft straw nest after a long day of flying.

The ice drake lay where he was, not having the strength to even lift his head as he waited for the end. He didn't know why the fire hadn't finished him off yet. It would be easy for it to do so. He wouldn't be able to reach equilibrium again, not for at least a week, but he wouldn't last long enough to be able to achieve that. By killing him, the fire would have almost definitely won this battle. It probably already had, which only left Polliar, who might not be able to defeat the flames, but at least hold them back.

"I thought it was you," a voice suddenly said, startling the ice drake.

He lifted his weary head and let out a growl as several dragon lengths away sat a ruby red fire dragoness, looking down upon him with a stoic expression and unreadable eyes. He tried to lift himself to his feet but was unable to do so, collapsing back to the ground.

"You dragons really need to learn how to do such powerful battle without your equilibrium. It only leaves you weak and useless after," snorted the dragoness.

"I'll show you useless!" snarled Ingun, flicking his tail and sending a spike of ice directly at her. However, the fire surrounding them simply shot forward and incinerated the spike, showing the drake just how little he could control his current situation.

"A spike of ice is hardly the pinnacle of what you can achieve Ingun, as we saw today," said the dragoness, tilting her head.

"What do you want Athaer? To gloat? To tell me just how useless my resistance was?"

"No," Athaer responded, "I was curious about who the dragon was that had given me so much trouble. I guess I shouldn't be surprised it was you. I always suspected there was some semblance of power to the ice dragon that acted like a pet to the queen of the sky."

Ingun growled angrily, forcing his feet beneath him as he staggered to his feet, spreading his wings to keep his balance, "Her majesty is stronger than I am. If you continue she will wipe out your entire army."

Athaer blinked, "I guess we shall see. But, I have my curiosity satisfied, I guess I should ask if you have any final words?"

Ingun bore his teeth, lashing his tail.

"I shall take that as a no."

The fire around the ice dragon began to descend toward him, causing a spike of fear to run through the ice dragon as the reality of the situation reached him. There was no getting out of this. Fire would be the last thing he would see, feel, hear, as it roared around him like some uncontrollable inferno. But if he was going to die... he had to at least know one thing.

"Wait!" he gasped.

The fire stopped descending, and Athaer narrowed her eyes, "I didn't take you for the type to beg for your life Ingun."

"I am not going to beg," growled the drake, "But before you kill me... answer me one thing... why are you doing this? You've helped wipe out the shadow dragons. No one has seen any mind or spirit dragons for years. There are barely any of the mental species left. And now you've turned your attention to us. Why?"

The dragoness narrowed her eyes at him, and for a moment he didn't think she would answer, but when she spoke it sent shivers down his spine, "This world has become sick. Lies... deception... greed... power... it is ruled from the underground. Everywhere you look stinks of death, death of the soul. The only cure is to start again."

"What, so you're going to kill everyone?"

"I am going to purify this world," growled Athaer, "One species at a time... until only the dragons ruled by fire remain."

Ingun's eyes widened in horror, taking a step backward, "You can't."

"I can, and I will," the dragoness turned away from him, "May you find peace in whatever afterlife you believe in."

But before the fire could descend upon him the earth below him opened up, pulling him into pitch darkness. He yelped in surprise as he was dragged through the crust of the earth at rapid speeds, before being thrown back above the ground, sending him rolling through dry grass, coughing and spluttering.

"Oh good, I got you in time," a voice spoke from above him.

Ingun took a moment to recover from his sudden rescue, before turning and looking at the dragon who had supposedly rescued him. An earth dragon sat near, larger than he was, with flawless green scales and a battle-hardened spiked ball at the end of his tail. They were a fair way from the battle, but Ingun could still feel the rumble of the ground and the heat of the flaming wall. Though it seemed to be wavering, much to his surprise.

"Who are you?" Ingun asked the earth drake, recognising the aura of equilibrium surrounding him, as though he were about to burst forth at a moment's notice.

"I apologise Ingun, but now isn't the time for introductions. I think now is the time for action," said the earth dragon, "Unfortunately I wasn't able to just kill our little fire queen. But I injured her. Not enough for her to lose focus on her firewall apparently, but enough to make some difference."

"What did you do?" Ingun questioned, still startled that he was alive.

"Oh, as I rescued you I sent up a spike of earth aiming for her throat. She dodged out of the way though, just. I think I got the side of her snout... maybe shattered a horn. She's a quick one though."

Ingun looked at the earth dragon with wide eyes, and repeated his question, "Who are you."

The drake sighed, looking at the ice dragon with veiled annoyance, "Let's just say I'm someone who's come to help even the tides of this conflict. And for a little bit of revenge. That flaming lizard just incinerated my home after all. I was quite proud of those mountains."

Ingun looked at him blankly.

The drake snorted, before focusing back on the battle, "Now... let's see what I can do here. I'll apologise to your earth equilibrium dragons later."

He took a deep breath, seeming to be focusing intently on the battle in the distance. The ground below them began to rumble and crack. Power seemed to flood outwards from the dragon and into the earth. Tremors flooded out from him as the very planet below them seemed to shake with reverence.

"Oh... I have been looking forward to this," growled the earth dragon with a mad gleam in his eye.

Suddenly mountains erupted from the earth below the battle, giant spikes of bare rock that broke through the crust of the planet like a rapidly growing forest of trees. Not only was it just below battle, but along the entire wall of fire, as far as the eye could see in both directions. Ingun watched in awe as the mountains grew faster than what the wall of fire could react, quickly reaching far higher into the sky than even the firestorm. Not only did it happen in front of the wall of fire, but behind it as well, massive peaks rising to the very tip of the sky, breaking up the wall in a thousand different areas.

Dragon's scattered in fear at the sudden appearance of the ground, both sides alike confused and scared of what had just happened. Even the wall of fire wavered, suddenly surrounded by earth. But it seemed to quickly retaliate, cascading onto the peaks, the rock becoming molten as it fell back to the ground.

"Oh, no you don't," growled the earth dragon, narrowing his eyes.

The molten rock rose into the air, blocking the wall of fire from continuing as it hardened into solid sheets of stone, preventing the fire from going any further. What's more, spikes began to erupt from the sides of the mountains, attacking the opposing army with thousands of shards. Not even the protection of the chaos equilibria was able to stop them from shredding through scales and flesh, causing thousands to fall under their number.

Both armies were in shambles, but as it quickly became apparent that the mountains weren't there to hurt the defenders, they quickly came together in a final charge, descending into the chaotic leftovers of Athaer's army. The army of fire was quickly routed, even the equilibria fleeing as the wall of fire dissipated under the sudden overwhelming attack. The mountains didn't let them flee so easily, blocking them in at multiple points and sending tens of thousands to their deaths.

With a deep sigh, the drake relaxed, shaking his body, and turning to look at Ingun with a mad smirk, "You have no idea how good that felt."

Ingun could only stare, feeling a mixture of both gleeful relief and horrific fear, "Who are you?"

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Hey guys! So... that was a story and a half. Oh, I really enjoy writing battles like this XD. Hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. It's not as deep as some of the previous ones but... it's good to write some good ol' fashion battle scenes once and a while. What do you think about the powers you witnessed in this battle? Is it how you expected? Tell me your thoughts below. Oh! And also vote!

Blood on Stones: Talon, Telekinetic drake - 26Yrs BTA

Unwanted Love: Abelan, Fire drake - 35Yrs BTA

Slaying Serpents: Banther, Water drake - 40Yrs BTA

Infiltration: Vitto, Spirit drake - 49 Yrs BTA

Let There be Light: Ego, human male - 17Yrs BTA

Until next week! See Ya!

Pennator^^