After we left Kohri and Yuko, the rest of us returned to the dense snow. We had walked for miles on end and still no sign of dragons of a significant size. All of the dragons we saw were ferret-sized creatures. Nothing like the bigger than elephant-sized creatures I had read about.

My feet, hands, and face were numb already despite the gloves that Kuroshi had given me. Actually, I could barely feel them.

I glanced up and saw what was the only non-white thing in the distance, a heavily armored, black caravan. Whoever was inside, had to be important. At the very least a general or something.

Running downhill, I caught sight of a navy-blue dragon mark in the front of the caravan. On top of its head was a gold and silver crown. That insignia, where had I seen it before?

"Hey, isn't that the symbol of the Dragon Emperor?" Rosalba asked, glancing back at my dad.

Kuroshi chuckled. "Kind of. The crown of the Dragon Emperor's insignia includes platinum. This one only has gold and silver. Hence this must be the caravan of the prince."

The prince of this realm, Ryonoko Sumeragi. I only knew of his name because he was the only child of our Celestial Queen, Saya no Mikoto. Thus he was also our universe's heir.

"That halfling is here?" Hyosetsu asked, glancing back at the caravan.

"Yes. How about we pay our young prince a visit? He might just prove useful in helping us locate a powerful dragon," Kuroshi suggested. "Plus, he is also one of our Amadeusian allies."

I nodded. "Wonder if he's anything like Zyuuni," I said, chuckling, recalling the prince's chunnibyou cousin.

"Might even be weirder," Hyosetsu responded as he jumped down the low lying cliff we were on. He landed on a pile of thick snow and grinned. "What I'm interested in is fighting him."

We followed Hyosetsu until we noticed the caravan coming to a complete standstill.

One of the back doors opened. Stepping out of the car was a tall, handsome, blonde young man around eighteen years of age. Something about him seemed familiar and it wasn't because I had met several of his cousins. Rather, he reminded me of my own cousin. Was the prince the Wynagan doppelganger of Serra?

"We got visitors?" he asked, grinning as yellow sparks crackled across his hands. The sparks gave way to a twin pair of silver broadswords. Smile fading, the boy raised his swords at us. "Tell me, what do you strangers want? If the answer satisfies me, I'll let you folks go. If not then you'll just have to face the power of the prince of this realm and Zionia."

"We just wanted to talk," I responded, raising my hands in the air.

His ocean blue eyes fell on my armor. His eyes lingered there for some time the same way Serra did, further proving my assumption.

"I see that you got one of the seven angel weapons. Did mother sent you here? If so then no need to take me with you. I am heading to the interdimensional gate right now." He ruffled his already messy hair and put a hand on his hips. "Honestly, am I that untrustworthy?"

I chuckled. "Rather ironic, huh?" I said, grinning.

He narrowed his blue eyes at me. "Who are you? Are you related to Shin?"

"Shin? Who is that?" I asked.

"Who are these people?" called out a female voice. A green haired young woman stepped out of the armored vehicle. Her tanuki-like ruby eyes analyzed us closely as she walked over to us.

Rosa gasped. "This girl's aura... it's similar to my sister's, why?" she whispered.

"She must be her doppelganger," I whispered back.

"Huh?" she asked.

Ryonoko held his arm out in front of the verdant haired girl. "Stand back. I still don't completely trust these folks."

The girl slapped his arm away and scoffed. "You know perfectly well that I can take care of myself."

"Right, no need to remind me," he said, rubbing his arm.

Hyosetsu gave the girl a smug grin. "I'll like to fight you one on one. It doesn't matter which of you two it is, as long as you come at me with full strength!"

Kuroshi hit him over the head or at least he tried to as the sword knight moved in time to avoid it. "Listen, we are here to find a dragon," Kuroshi said. "Do you think that you could help us find one? If you do then I'll teleport you back to Xeleria with us."

Ryonoko unsummoned his swords as soon as he noticed him. "Is that's all? This is the Wynaga. Dragons are everywhere. You just don't know how to look." He pointed at the mountain in the distance. "If you're brave then head over there. That's where the strongest dragons in this region live."

"Thanks," I said, grinning.

The young man stared at me again. "Hanketsu is your ancestor, correct?"

I nodded. "Isn't it obvious?"

He narrowed his eyes at me. He really did give off the same vibe as my cousin that it was eerie. It made me prefer Sirius and the dad of that girl who had spilled her drink on Hideo's cape over him. Neither one seemed aggressive toward me like this one.

"But you aren't him, right?" Ryonoko finally spoke up after a moment's pause. "You're not the one who is meant to hold that necklace. No, that child has yet to even be born."

How could he tell that I had Hanketsu's necklace when it was hidden underneath my armor? More so that I wasn't the chosen one. Was it because he was the grandson of one of the seven archangels? Or was he just super intuitive?

He glanced over at the mountain once more. "Tell you what, I'll accompany you to find your dragon. Amira, if it's alright with you, we'll escort them to the base of Ruben Mountain. Once we arrive, I want you to stay in the vehicle and get far away from it. This shouldn't take too long, so we'll catch up in a few. But it could be dangerous if the rumors are true."

What rumors?

Amira smiled. "Alright. Meanwhile I'll look for the source of that smell."

Smell? What smell? Was there natural gas pouring out of the rocks somewhere? Or maybe something else? Wynagas were said to have superior senses compared to of Xelerians and Zionians.

"Follow me," Ryonoko said, waving at us. "I don't have all day, you know."

Yup, this guy really must be this universe's Serra.

"Coming!" I yelled, following him into the vehicle.

***

"So, why are you folks looking for a dragon?" the prince asked, reclining on a black leather seat. "I don't imagine Zionians would come all the way to Wynaga to capture a dragon without reason."

The vehicle came to a stop as sparks crackled in the prince's hands.

"Why did we stop?" Hyosetsu asked, glaring at him.

Rosalba looked at the prince and the girl and gulped. Both were looking at us with suspicion.

"Is this a trap?" Kuroshi asked, snickering.

Ryonoko chuckled as he crossed his fingers together. "No. Consider it an interrogation. Now, speak."

"You should've done so out in the cold," Kuroshi said, crossing his own hands together. "It would have been safer for you." His eyes shifted toward Amira. "Interesting woman you got here. Where did you get her?"

Blood rolled down Kuroshi's mouth. It was fast... Very fast.

Amira stared at her blood covered hand. The blood quickly faded like shadows.

"What are you?" Amira asked as her victim's wound healed right away.

Kuroshi snickered. "And how about you?"

She glared at him. "Nevermind that, why do you speak of me like an object?"

"You could say I know a little about who you are."

Amira gulped.

Ryonoko stared at his female companion with interest. "Even I don't know that. Who is this guy?"

"Wish I knew," Amira responded, averting her gaze.

I sighed. "We came here to look for a dragon to power up my shield," I said, returning to the original topic of this 'interrogation'. "This sadistic man here is one of the ones who made it. This weapon along with Hyosetsu's Baldo and three others were created to keep the Abyss at bay."

"The Abyss you say?" the couple said as they exchanged looks.

Takeshi nodded. "Aye, Lady Saya herself had me make them. Surely you must've been told of this."

"So you are indeed the legendary blacksmith she spoke of. I had suspected as much when I noticed your attire. Kuroshi Kuroriku, a man of many talents. Known as the 'angel of death' due to your fashion style and eerie habit of appear uninvited," Ryonoko said, sitting up straight. "I did not like the way you referred to Amira, but it seems that helping you is in the best interest of my future kingdoms if my mother called upon your aid."

Kingdoms? Does the darkness threaten Wynaga too?

***

The dimensional prince had his armored vehicle drive us to the rest of the way to the base of the mountain he had pointed out. While it too was snow covered, it stood out like a sore thumb in an otherwise mostly flat area. In fact, the mountain was almost as high as the highest mountain in all of Kuroriku, Mt. Corona which reached nine-thousand meters high. But Mt. Corona was part of a mountain range, this one stood by itself, making it an anomaly.

"Take care," said Amira as we jumped off.

The multi-dimensional prince turned back and smiled. "Don't worry about me. Concentrate on finding what you're looking for."

Her red eyes darted toward the black carpet under her feet. "Alright." She pulled up the window and had the vehicle speed up.

What could she be looking for in this forsaken land?

"The dragon is in one of the caves around here," the prince said as soon as the vehicle was gone from view. He closed his eyes and put a hand on the cold, hard ground. "I sense it. The entrance to the cavern the dragons live in is on the crest of the mountain."

"You have earth powers?" I asked.

Ryonoko smiled as he rose from the ground. "Yeah, I inherited them from my father, Emperor Tatsu." He snickered as he walked on ahead. He stopped and glanced back at me. "What, did you think that I was a Kuroriku? You must surely know that mother is one of my grandma Kushina's youngest children. I doubt that any of my aunts or uncles for that matter are Hyosetsu's children. Especially as the eldest looks identical to my grandfather, the first Magus Maximus."

So the rumors that Kushina had a child of Hanketsu were false...

Wait, identical to Takehaya? Just like Eri... could it be that Eri's father is related to the eldest child of Magus Maximus Takehaya and Heavenly Queen Kushina?

Suddenly the ground below us shook with such enormous force that entire boulders rolled down from the summit. The rolling boulders broke small rocks in the way like a giant roller.

Rosalba stepped in front of us. Orange avian-like wings covered her entire back. She redirected the rocks but they were coming too fast.

"No, we can't die like this!" she yelled as she spun around in the air to kick a boulder away from me.

"Thanks, Rosa, but leave the shielding to me," I said, dashing in front of her.

"Agnes is broken," she said, furrowing her brow. "How about we do this together?"

I smiled. "Okay."

Father grimaced as he too stopped some of the rocks. He was running low on mana.

"Look there!" Hyosetsu said, pointing at the crest of the mountain. Coming down from the peak were several dragons, but none of them paid us any attention. Rather, it seemed as if they were fleeing something. Suddenly a ruby red dragon emerged from the top of the moutain. It came at us quick, much more so than what one would expect from a creature as massive as it. The thing was forty meters long from head to tail.

It's massive feet touched the ground and caused the mountain to rumble.

"So the rumors were true! That's the legendary Dragon of the Land, the Behemoth!" Ryonoko exclaimed stopping the next round of boulders simply by raising his right hand. However, he, along with the rest of us, was pushed back by the force of the earthquakes and boulders raining down none-stop. "Damn it. I should've just have continued on my way!"

Great, our prince is far less heroic than the magical realm's.

I raised my broken shield in front of my head and stepped forward. I stopped some of the rocks before they could even strike my shield and shattered them with my earth angel powers.

Throwing my coat into the ground, I called forth my wings. Two three-foot, pitch black wings emerged from the barely visible slits on the back of my shirt. I unsheathed the sword that Rosa had made for me and slashed at the rocks. The blade sliced perfectly.

"Woah," Kuroshi said. "I might just have made a sword surpassing Baldo!"

I smiled. "I'm going to go stop that thing!" I yelled. "Everyone, stand back!"

I ascended but just as quickly, I descended as the feathers of my wings froze over due to the subzero temperature and even colder winds.

"Damn," I yelled as I flew back down.

Rosalba and Hyosetsu flew up toward me but the boulders followed them.

"We've made it really mad!" Rosalba yelled as a house size rock flew past her. She dashed forward after me.

"Stop!" I yelled as I saw a rock making its way over to her.

Rosa held up her hand, but before she could redirect it, Hyosetsu sliced though it with his sword. His skill with Baldo was as amazing as always. If he wasn't so much of a jerk, I would've asked him for some lessons after this.

"Let's continue retreating!" I yelled as I continued to lose altitude. "We got to think of another way to approach it."

"We did step on its territory," Kuroshi said, catching me.

I stared back at the base and noticed that the prince hadn't chased after us. In fact, he was gone from where he once stood.

"Where did he go?" Rosalba asked."

"Is he trying to distract it?" I asked.

"Maybe he flew?"

"He can't fly," Hyosetsu responded, chuckling. "Don't you know anything about him?"

Well, apart from him being the prince of our realm, I don't really...

Suddenly yellow and blue lightning zipped around below us. The lightning stalled, revealing itself to be Ryonoko covered in a cloak of electricity. A pair of wings ripped the back of the prince's shirt and leather coat off. However, the wings weren't matching. One of them was a white bat-like wing while the other was a black bird-like wing.

He glanced up at Hyosetsu, his ocean blue eyes turning as cold as the ice duke's.

Taking a step back, the dimensional prince jumped into the air but his wings barely supported him a few inches off the ground.

The young man grimaced as he landed on one of the ground. He spun his twin swords as a spherical conflagration came at him. With ease, the prince sliced through the scorching fireball. The two halves flew far. Heavy steam emitted from their unintended targets.

Ryonoko took a deep breath and calmly made his way up the base of the mountain to meet the slow moving dragon. It must've barely woken up.

More rocks fell from above but the blond-haired young man shattered the rocks with a laser show of yellow beams of light.

He's strong, very strong. Just like Serra.

Ryonoko jumped into the air once more but there was no flight.

Hyosetsu scoffed. "To think that this pathetic excuse for an angel is our next Heavenly King. Perhaps I should aim higher than a branch ruler."

Why hadn't he already done so? He unquestionably had the ambition.

Lasers of light shot out of Ryonoko's wings and pierced through the clouds above.

"Shut up!" the prince yelled, covering his ears. More light erupted from him, causing the sky around the mountain to clear up of all mist and clouds.

Kuroshi and Rosalba landed next to the prince. Kuroshi's wings were covered with as much frost as mine while Rosa's had but a thin layer. They certainly were more talented at flying, considering I couldn't even stay afloat with less than them.

I held my shield up as the red dragon was drawn toward to the prince.

"Ryonoko!" I yelled as loud as I could, but the snow muffled some of my voice.

Ryonoko removed his hands from his ears and noticed the dragon a few feet away from him, shaking the ground with the force of a magnitude seven earthquake. The ground around us was a slushy mess. If it weren't for us being earth angels (or an earth mage in the case of Ryonoko who was a light angel) then we probably would've sunk into it.

Hyosetsu remained afloat as he pointed his sword at the behemoth of a dragon. "Ice Prison!" the ice duke yelled. Icy tendrils erupted from the sword and grasped the dragon's legs before it could strike down Ryonoko with one of its think claws.

Spinning his swords, the prince stepped toward the beast.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Are you suicidal? Stay out of the way!"

The boy's ocean-blue eyes darted upward. They analyzed the tendrils moving around in the air. "Those things are too weak to hold this beast, much like their owner." With one swift move of both swords he generated fierce winds. The gales sent the dragon flying back into the crest of the mountain, several miles away. "I'll keep it busy while all of you flee."

"Tsk," was all that Hyosetsu could say at the display of the prince's power.

Rosalba nodded as the snow around the base of the mountain turned into a wave of steam.

Hyosetsu descended from the sky and snatched her up.

Kuroshi shrouded himself and me in shadows.

"Take care, prince!" I yelled.

Glancing back, the dimensional prince gave me a sad smile before running into the boiling mist. "If anything happens to me, please take care of Amira!" Ryonoko said before fading completely from view.

I reached a hand out. No... What is he planning to do? He couldn't actually have a death wish, could he? Damn, the guy is like Serra!

***

*Character Section*

[Left] Amira Amadeus Akiyama- Age: 18 Parents: Alpha and Yuna Hair: Green Eyes: Red

Also known as: Genius under the heavens

[Right] Ryonoko Sumeragi no Mikoto Amadeus- Age: 18 Parents: Saya no Mikoto (Queen of the Heavens), Tatsu Sumeragi (Dragon Emperor)

Titles: Scion of the Dragons and Angels; Inter-dimensional prince; Hybrid price; Future King of Existence; Holder of the two spheres; Dragon-Angel prince.

  **Solar Note: I hope that you enjoyed this update. What did you think of Ryonoko and Amira?**