VOTE FOR THE NEXT CHRONICLE BELOW!!!

Thanks to AmHumanEnough For inspiring this story. It's a bit different from what you wanted, but hopefully it's still good. If you have an idea you think will be interesting for this book, head to the 'Your Ideas' section of the book, and write it down XD

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A torrential downpour cascaded over the forest. Fat drops of rain intent on flooding the marshy land below. Much of it was already turning to rivers and streams, covering the ground in a thick layer of water. The thick forest of trees stood firm under the downpour, their upper branches entwined to hold each other up, while their roots sticking up from the mud below were quickly flooded by water. Flashing blue lightning could be seen above the canopy, each followed by a boom that seemed to vibrate the ground.

In the midst of the marsh wallowed a lone dragon. His dark red scales and black spines were like a beacon of colour amongst the dark drab greens and browns surrounding him. Large wings were folded tightly against his side, and every step he made through the undergrowth was accompanied by a frustrated grunt as he forced his talons through the mud. The water was rising slowly and was now about halfway up his legs.

"Damn this rain," the drake muttered to himself as he looked up at the canopy.

The tightly woven trees protected him from the worst of it. At least the violent winds weren't buffeting him from the sky. But he was still subject to the water droplets finding their way through the tree branches, and with the water steadily rising he was beginning to wonder if he wouldn't be better in the air. It was difficult for a dragon to drown, but not impossible. He could already feel the pull of the current against his talons.

He looked through the forest, feeling slight relief as he spotted a small hill rising from the ground. If he hadn't lost his way, that was his destination. Putting more effort into his sore muscles he continued to wade through the marshland, trying to ignore the sticky mud going between his talons and sticking to his legs. It took another half-hour of near swimming through the flood until he finally felt solid ground beneath his claws. With a huff, he hauled himself out of the river and up onto the hill.

There were more small streams descending downward, but not enough for him to worry. As he began his trip up the hill he felt the wind growing stronger as the protection of the undergrowth grew less dense. Still, he walked, just holding his wings closer, determination flooding him with every step. This had to be the place.

As he crested the hill, he looked down into the small valley below. Trees had been cut away to make room for the inhabitants. Unnaturally shaped caves had been dug into the hillsides, many with tightly woven hatches put over to stop the rain from getting inside. Milling around on the ground below were several dozen dragons of differing colours. The deep blue of water dragons, completely at home in the downpour, with hatchlings happily dunking themselves in deep puddles of mud, and the marshy green of acid dragons, with their brightly coloured torsos, not quite as impressed with the weather but still more than happy to join in with the frolicking of some of the water dragons.

Slowly the drake made his way down the hill. He had already been noticed by the more perceptive members of this small draconic village. An acid dragon had taken to the wing, being careful to keep low to the ground so as not to be torn away, and made his way over. The red drake stopped, sitting down on his haunches, as was only polite for a stranger seeking entrance to a homestead.

The acid drake landed. He was slightly smaller than the red dragon, with dappled green scales and splashes of red around the underside of his joints. He studied the intruder with suspicious eyes, tail flicking behind him with careful movements. He wasn't aggressive, but not friendly either, trying to decide if this new dragon was a threat or not.

"Hello friend," the red drake bowed his head, "I mean you no harm."

The acid dragon bowed his head in response, "What brings you to our village? It's rare to find a chaos dragon so far from the fire nation."

"I am merely looking for someone. I heard he might be here," the chaos dragon responded.

The drake was silent for several moments, before answering, "Who?"

"A fire drake, by the name of Pyras."

Again there was a long pause before he was given a response, "What do you want with Pyras?"

The chaos drake felt a dark sense of victory. He had finally done it. After years of traveling in exile, he had finally found his target. He struggled not to show his reaction to the dragon in front of him, even if his claws dug deeper into the ground at his feet as his tail twitched with sinister excitement.

"I've been looking for him for a while. I'm an old friend. My name's Dvayin," the chaos drake said with a short bow of his head.

"Pleased to meet a friend of Pyras. Any friend of his is a friend of mine," the acid dragon smiled, "I'm Zayil, leader of this small village. We have a communal cave you can rest in if you like, as Pyras is currently preoccupied."

Dvayin smiled, nodding his appreciation. He could wait for his revenge for a little while as he warmed up a bit. How any dragon could live in such a wet climate confused him greatly. Zayil lead him to the cave, a large open cavern descending into the ground, and protected from the ran by a surprisingly well-managed covering. In the middle burned a massive flame. As soon as Dvayin stepped inside he let out a murmur of happiness as the warmth seemed to instantly drive away the cold seeping into his bones.

There were a couple of nests situated around the fire, but Dvayin ignored them, quite happy to lay against the heated stone floor. His soaked body quickly began steaming as he lay against the ground and rumbled his satisfaction. Zayil gave a chuckle, before leaving the game to join with the rest of his village outside. Dvayin was slightly surprised they trusted him so much. Not that he was complaining.

Several hours later the chaos drake woke with a start, not realising that he had fallen asleep. He raised his head, letting out a yawn. The sound of pouring rain reach his hearing glands, and he let out a sigh, wondering just how long it had been going for now. It must be at least a day. He got up from the warm ground, stretching with a groan, before looking up, and falling still.

Sitting not far away from him, resting, was a fire drake. The drake was watching him carefully, eyes narrowed with suspicion and curiosity. His red flank and yellow underbelly matched the colour of the flickering flames. He was a smaller drake, with two long straight horns on his head and small curled spines running from his neck all the way down to his tail.

"You know Pyras. It's kinda creepy to watch someone sleep," Dvayin said, turning toward the dragon and sitting down on his haunches.

"Just making sure you didn't get up to anything," the fire drake replied evenly.

"Up to anything? C'mon! Is that any way to treat an old friend?"

"I don't know. Depends on why you are here."

Dvayin allowed a grin to spread across his snout, one full of anger and malice, "So you do know what your actions caused."

"I had my suspicions. I can't think of any other reason you would be here."

The chaos dragon's grin turned into a snarl, "You betrayed me. Tricked me and threw me away to be killed in your stead. And now here you sit, as nonchalant as ever, living as though you aren't the scum of the earth."

"I did what I had to."

"What you had to?! You failed! Then when you did you trapped me and your brother behind to be killed by the queen!"

"You escaped."

"I didn't escape! My mate begged the queen not to kill me, and since I wasn't the 'mastermind' behind the plan of yours she decided to exile me instead. Exile!"

Pyras snorted, "She's weak. As I suspected."

"Weak? You should have seen what she did to Vandal, your brother, and the others that helped him. I listened to their screams as she used her fire to turn them to ash from the inside out. Like she did to your father. But only far slower. Far more painfully. And she did it in front of everyone. No one will dare betray her now."

He could see the flash of guilt behind the drake's eyes, before he shook himself, narrowing his eyes at the chaos dragon, "What are you here for Dvayin?"

"Retribution," growled the chaos dragon.

Pyras slowly got to his feet, flicking his tail, "Do you really think you can defeat me? I am the son of Theleon. The greatest fire dragon to ever exist."

"That you still believe that shows me you haven't really changed at all," snarled Dvayin, before launching forward with a roar.

Pyras tried to jump out of the way, but Dvayin was fast, quickly changing his direction with a flap of his wings. He collided with the fire drake, and the two went rolling over each other with snarls and growls. As a larger drake, Dvayin was stronger and heavier than the other dragon and was easily able to pin him to the ground, his talons pressing into the other dragon's throat, forcing the fire dragon's head to angle away from his. Pyras howled, struggling against the other dragon, his tail lashing and fire blasting out from his mouth, but unable to hit the other dragon.

"You betrayed us all Pyras. You know what the last thing Vandal told me? To find you, and make you pay. It's taken years... but now I have you," snarled Dvayin.

The fire drake suddenly went still, before bursting into flames. The chaos dragon let out a yowl, leaping upward with a flap of his wings. Pyras continued his attack, quickly turning and unleashing a blast of fire toward his opponent. Dvayin roared as the fire burned the softer scales of his underbelly, frantically back-winging to get out of the flame. He landed on the other side of the firepit in the centre of the game, snarling at the stinging sensation all over his stomach. His red eyes glared at his opponent, flicking his tail as his body suddenly filled with glowing red energy. He opened his mouth, a beam of the same red energy shooting forward at the fire dragon. Pyras snarled, dodging out of the way, and responding with a fireball. The small explosion it caused made Dvayin stagger, forcing him to close his mouth with a snarl.

The missed beam of energy hit the back of the cave, drilling into it, and causing the roof to shudder somewhat at the attack. The flaming dragon appeared suddenly through the bonfire, roaring and raking at Dvayin with fiery talons. The scales on Dvayin's snout did little to protect him against the raking claws, and he snarled as multiple grooves were seared into his snout, followed by a cry as he was once again bathed in flames. He opened his mouth, blindly firing a beam of chaos energy. He was rewarded with a grunt as the fire drake was thrown back into the fire at the centre.

The chaos drake staggered, blinking and shaking his head to try and get rid of the searing pain that seemed to cover his entire body, while Pyras rolled out of the flames, groaning and winded. Slowly the two drakes recovered. Dvayin infused his body with chaos energy once again, making his scales glow and his red eyes flash with anarchial fury. He took a step toward the fire dragon, opening his mouth and unleashing a far more solid beam of energy at his enemy. Pyras snarled, pulling his flaming wings over his head to try and protect himself, but even an elemental shield could do little against chaos energy.

The fire dragon was flung backward into the cave wall, where he fell to the ground with a groan. Dvayin began to limp forward, trying to ignore the multiple burning pains flooding his body. Most dragons were moderately fire resistant, but a fire dragon's flame was still hot enough to burn and even kill given the opportunity.

"You fire dragons, thinking you are the strongest of us all," snarled Dvayin, "It has been your downfall on multiple occasions. In reality, your power is nothing compared to the pure destructive energy of chaos."

"You think so, huh?" Pyras chuckled weakly, before roaring out an inferno of flame.

The chaos dragon's eyes widened, and instantly he tried to respond with a beam of energy of his own, cutting through the flame. But the fire drake was not nearly as damaged as he had been showing, and as he breathed out his fire he leaped to his feet, darting to the side to avoid the attack yet again. The chaos dragon screamed as the fire ripped through him. He had protected his face with his wings, but the fire seemed to just scorch through his wings.

He staggered backward, scream as he was burned alive by the constant stream of fire. A single thought flooded his mind. He needed to get out. He needed to stop the burning. With a roar he launched himself forward, flooding his body with chaos energy to allow him a stronger and faster leap. He broke out of the inferno, parts of his wings still flame, and in an act of desperation broke out of the cave entrance and into open. The rain was still falling, and the chaos dragon felt immense relief as he was doused of his pain, the fire on his now damaged wings quickly going out.

He fell into the mud, groaning his relief as if his entire body had been doused with ice. Water dripped down his snout, smothering the burns. It felt nearly as welcome as the healing energy of a green life dragon. He couldn't lay there for long, however, slowly getting to his feet as he saw the flaming form of Pyras step out of the cave. Any rain that hit him sizzled with annoyed distaste as it was evaporated, the rain around him quickly turning to steam.

The citizens of the village were looking on with confusion at the two red dragons. The hatchlings had stopped playing to stare at the confrontation. Dvayin wondered if they had heard the screams and roars coming from the cave. With a growl he struggled to his feet, the burned skin and charred scales along his wings and back cracking and splitting, forcing trickles of blood to run down his back, washed away by the rain.

"Do you really want to do this, Dvayin? If you leave now, I won't kill you," Pyras roared over the crashing thunder.

The chaos dragon narrowed his eyes, looking around at the spectators with slight worry. He knew they were fond of the fire dragon. They wouldn't let him stay there if they weren't. But he didn't know if they yet had the loyalty to him to help him in this battle. Though he could see several angry snarls directed his way. He knew he couldn't fight the entire village. But he also knew he couldn't give up now. Not when he was so close.

"You betrayed me," the chaos dragon roared back with fury, "You took away my life, and left me for dead. It's all you! I would rather die than let you escape again."

"So be it," snarled Pyras, stepping forward.

"What's happening Pyras?" asked Zayil.

"Don't get involved Zayil," responded the fire drake, "This battle is a blood feud. We are going to settle this the way we do where I come from."

Dvayin tilted his head, not realising how the fire dragon saw this battle. No formal challenge had been made after all. But he was happy to take it, especially if it meant none of the other villagers would interfere in this battle. He snorted, lashing his tail.

"If that's the way you see this, then I make it official," growled the chaos dragon, "For what you've done to me, for what you deserve, I challenge you to a blood duel."

"I accept," the fire dragon responded with a growl, the fire around his body dimming somewhat as the downpour grew stronger.

"No one get involved," Pyras repeated, glancing at an acid dragoness watching with panicked eyes at one side, "No matter what."

Dvayin didn't miss the fear in the dragoness's eyes. He snorted, slightly unbelievingly, before focusing entirely on the fire dragon. With a roar he leaped forward, firing another beam of chaos energy toward the fire dragon. Pyras's fire roared around his body as he leaped into the sky with a flap of his wings, unleashing another plume of flames.

This time Dvayin was ready, forcing his already injured body to move as he gripped the ground with his claws and leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack as the mud where he had just been was solidified by the flames. The chaos dragon forced his wings open and with a roar launched into the sky. He struggled to ignore the pain flooding his body as he charged at his glowing foe, firing another beam of chaos energy. Again, Pyras dodged with a flap of his wings, the beam continuing into the sky and through the clouds.

A ball of fire sizzled through the rain, and Dvayin battered it away with a flap of his wings. Fire couldn't travel as far as chaos energy, and now that he was in the air, Dvayin found himself able to use that pivotal advantage. Physically he may be more opposing than the fire drake, but at close range fire dealt far too much damage, as he had been subject to so far. Another beam of red energy blasted from his maw, which again Pyras dodged with a flare of flames, responding by firing a ball of fire down at the other dragon.

They continued this game for several more minutes, testing each other's reflexes and defences. Pyras was faster and more agile, able to use his flames to speed his movements and making it very difficult for Dvayin to land a hit. But the rain weakened his flames and constantly tried to douse them, creating a strain on the drake's energy reserves. If he got wet it would only be all the harder to ignite his body once again. Dvayin wasn't faring much better. The injuries he had already sustained were beginning to break through the adrenaline rush he had. He could feel his skin pealing and ripping with every flap of his wings, and despite the water soothing the burns, every struggling wingbeat he took only increased the pain he was feeling.

After several minutes, Pyras broke first. He let out a roar of frustration as the flames around his body flickered, before going out. He hovered for a moment, trying to focus on lightning himself up again, but Dvayin was ready. With a roar he charged, another beam of chaos energy severing the space between himself and the momentarily still drake. Pyras let out a yelp, folding his wings and dropping, narrowly avoiding the attack. But the chaos dragon wasn't done yet. He fell after the fire dragon, a snarl on his snout as he flapped his wings several times in order to catch up.

Pyras looked back to see he was being chased and let out a snarl, folding his wings and streamlining himself to increase his speed. Together they plummeted back toward the ground. It was exactly what Dvayin had been waiting for. With a roar he opened his mouth and once again fired a beam of chaos energy directly at the fire drake. This time, with their position, Pyras was unable to dodge out of the way. He tried, opening his wings in an attempted to pull out of the dive, but was unable to get out of the way in time.

A cry escaped him as the beam smashed into his back, slamming him out of the air and into the ground. Dvayin wasn't far behind. He crashed into the downed fire dragon, driving him further into the mud. He thought he felt a break in the dragon's back.

"DAD!" came a scream from within the crowd of watching dragons, an acid hatchling, no more than two years old, struggled out, rushing toward the two fighting drakes, only to be pounced on by the dragoness from the crowd earlier.

"No! No, let me go! He's hurting dad!" the hatchling drake cried out, struggling desperately against the grasping talons.

The chaos drake snorted, gripping one of the fire drake's horns and twisting his head in an odd direction. A groan escaped Pyras's mouth, showing he was still conscious, but barely.

"You really did make a life for yourself here, huh?" Dvayin rumbled, narrowing his eyes at the dragoness, who only looked on with begging eyes.

"Let him go," Zayil stepped forward with a hissing growl.

"The rules of the blood feud prevent you from interfering," growled back the chaos dragon.

"Well unfortunately for you, I don't follow fire nation law," hissed Zayil, flaring his wings.

"If you do anything to me, I will break his neck," snarled Dvayin, putting more pressure on the drake's horn, causing Pyras's neck to twist even further.

He could feel the fire drake below him struggle weekly. But whatever strength he had before was long gone. Dvayin studied the surrounding dragons with narrowed eyes. The dragon he had been hunting was here at his mercy. He had won the battle, barely. Even now he could feel the wounds slowly wearing him down. The pain sizzling over him was making him woozy. All he needed to do to finish the drake was to put a little more pressure on the horns. He could imagine the satisfying crunch with vivid intensity. If he did though, the acid and water dragons would surely attack.

"Don't come any closer," he roared out as he spotted one drake slowly trying to sneak up from behind.

The drake froze, growling with anger. Dvayin narrowed his eyes, looking over the group, and in a slightly desperate attempt, spoke.

"He is a traitor to the queen of the fire nation. An attempted assassin. When it failed, in a desperate attempt to save his own scales, he pointed us all out to a nearby guard, allowing us to be captured. He is not some worthy drake that deserves protection."

"He's changed," the dragoness cried out, "He's no longer that dragon."

"That may be, but he escaped without retribution. I am only here to see that he pay for his actions. This is what he deserves!" roared the chaos drake.

Zayil was watching with silent eyes. Dvayin made eye contact with Zayil. There was a hesitation within the drake. He knew what it was like to be a leader, to dish out punishment when deserved. He knew what constituted it. An assassination attempt against a king or queen was a severe action. One that could only be responded to with death. It didn't matter what else the fire drake had done. A crime that severe had to be punished. It didn't matter how the others felt.

"You won't give him mercy?" asked Zayil.

"Never," growled Dvayin.

"No! Please Zayil, you can't allow this!" begged the dragoness again, still struggling to hold her hatchling down.

"He tried to kill the fire queen Daila!" Zayil suddenly roared, "And you knew about this!?"

She hesitated, tears in her eyes, "He... he told me. But he's changed! Please believe he's changed."

"Maybe so," growled the acid dragon, "But it's out of my control."

"Noo!"

Dvayin snorted, taking that as all the permission he needed. He increased the pressure on the drake's horn, with a loud crack snapped the fire dragon's neck. The sound echoed through the rain in solemn severity. Daila's wail soon followed as she rushed forward, allowing her son to rush forward as well.

The chaos dragon didn't stay, not wanting any close friends of Pyras to try and take revenge. With a quick flap of his wings, he launched into the sky, trying to ignore the burning in his wings. He only just noticed that despite the heaviness of the rain, the wind had died down, making his flight far easier as he flew back over the marshy forest.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Hello everyone! Thank you for reading this Chronicle. Vote, and comment on what you thought. Sorry for a bit of a sadder one. I thought it had been a while since I hit you with some emotions XD. Tell me what you think of Dvayin and Pyras. And as always vote on the next chronicle below.

Mobilization: Several different dragons - 10Yrs BTA

The Blood Dragon: Parrella, Acid dragoness - 41Yrs BTA

A Last Hope: Strager, Metal drake - 5Yrs BTA

The Passive Flame: Sakary, Fire dragoness - 20Yrs BTA

See Ya!

Pennator^^