“Turning Point”

There was a flurry of footsteps. More than one person was heading towards the room where Seth stood, still staring in the direction Akira had disappeared into only moments before.

“I thought you would be here. Seth what were you…” Linken’s voice began, yet he trailed off as he stepped into the room. Brandon was right behind him.

“What happened?” Brandon demanded pushing past Linken.

Seth slowly turned to face Brandon. “She left,” he murmured. “I don’t know why…she just…left.”

Brandon turned to Linken. “Send someone after her at once,” he demanded.

This seemed to shake Seth from his daze. “What? Wait…why?”

Brandon turned to face him. “Trust me when I say that right now, the Academy is the safest place for her to be,” he told him.

Seth shot him a questioning look, yet he knew Brandon would not explain any further. “I’ll go,” he volunteered.

“You’re still recovering,” Linken spoke up.

“I’m going,” Seth replied, his voice firm.

“Seth,” Brandon sighed, “You’re in no condition to–”

“I know her the best, the places she’ll go to,” Seth argued, “It may take ages for anyone else to track her down.”

From where he sat Cain let out a snort. Seth shot him a glare while both Brandon and Linken ignored him altogether.

“Then just tell us the most likely places to find her,” Linken began.

“Let him go,” Brandon sighed.

Linken shot him a look.

“He’s right,” Brandon continued. “Seth is the most likely to track her down fast, and right now we don’t have a lot of time.” He looked Seth straight in the eye. “Find her Seth, and bring her back.”

Seth nodded and hurried from the room.

“Are you sending him alone?” Linken asked.

“She’s more likely to listen to him, anyone else could just get in the way,” Brandon replied. “However, to make the chances of finding her we better send another group or two.” He turned to the two other riders who stood in the room, looking lost. “Transfer the prisoner to another room.”

The two riders nodded and hurried to obey.

Linken stood where he was, staring at the large hole in the wall. “She did that huh?” He asked.

Brandon turned to look at what Linken was referring to. Behind him the two riders led Cain from the room. The boy did not struggle once.

“I don’t know what you plan to do Brandon, even if you can get her back here, because to me it looks like everything is leading right up to what Cain told us would happen,” Linken spoke.

Brandon ran a hand through his hair, staring out through the hole in the wall. “I can only hope that you are not right on that,” he murmured. A sudden wave of tiredness washed over him. “Let us hope that Seth finds her soon.”

Akira sat on Redemption’s back in silence. Her dragon flew, neither asking her nor probing her mind to find out what was going on, for he could sense from her mood that right now, she needed some privacy.

Redemption dipped his wings and turned to the right. His paws skimmed the white clouds and a soft breeze blew gently. Yet Akira seemed not to even realize, her eyes glazed over with a faraway look.

After they flew on a little while, Redemption realized that Akira was not going to talk to him any time soon, and so he began to descend. His eyes roamed over the landscape below. It was made up of lush, green meadows in which flowers, varying in color, gently swayed in the breeze. Upon catching sight of a small, clear brook, Redemption headed right for it.

His paws touched the ground, squashing a few unlucky flowers in the process, only a few feet away from the brook. For a moment he stood, letting the gentle gurgle of water fill the silence between him and his rider. When Akira shifted, he turned to see her slipping from his back.

Without a word she walked past him, towards the brook, and stared into the clear waters. Yet the look in her eyes showed that although she was looking at it, she did not see it.

Redemption lowered his head slightly, his tail dropping as he picked up the serious mood. Without reading Akira’s mind he could feel the emotions rushing through her, emotions of fear, anger, disbelief, and even hurt. It was these emotions that had made Redemption rush to his rider’s bidding without questioning her actions, yet now he was worried, wondering what was going on.

Restraining himself, Redemption purposely stayed out of Akira’s mind. He knew she was deep in thought, knew that she would open up when she was ready.

Sighing, the white dragon lowered himself into the soft grass. He couldn’t help but feel slightly lost and he felt a sudden longing for Destiny. The old blue dragon had always seemed to know what to do.

Redemption curled up as though to sleep, and yet he kept his eyes open, glued on his rider the entire time, watching, waiting for her next move.

Akira stood as solid as a rock, not moving an inch. She did so while the sun moved across the sky, reaching its highest point and even beginning to slowly make its decent once more. Not once did Redemption try to interrupt, nor did he once move his eyes off his rider.

He felt his eyelids dropping when he suddenly felt it, a change in his rider’s emotions, a change to a sudden feeling of calmness and acceptance. He lifted his head, eyes glued on Akira.

Akira slowly began to turn around. Redemption followed suit, getting to his feet to face her. The sudden calmness in his rider’s eyes made him blink in surprise. Yet upon realizing that Akira was ready to talk, Redemption turned to the questions he had been dying to ask her.

“Okay seriously,” he thought, feeling overwhelmed by everything that had happened. “It’s time you explain yourself. Why exactly did we leave the Academy like that? Not to mention you blasting a hole in the wall and then free falling out! Brandon is going to be furious when we get back and you’ll have a lot more expl–”

“We’re not going back,” Akira’s voice cut him off.

Redemption blinked in surprise. “Excuse me?” He asked, thinking he hadn’t heard correct.

“We’re not going back to the Academy Ree.” Akira’s determined eyes met his.

Redemption stared at his rider as though she had grown a second head. “Is this about them locking you up?” he asked softly.

“Ree,” Akira sighed, “It’s not that.”

Redemption watched her, hoping for a rational explanation.

“It’s just that…” Akira paused, she turned her gaze away from her dragon, seeming to struggle with her emotions. “I talked with the Cain, the one from the future,” she looked up and Redemption saw the conflict in her eyes. It seemed as though Akira was struggling with something, and yet at the same time, her calmness showed that whatever it was, she had come to accept it.

Slowly Akira walked up to her dragon and placed a hand on his check. “Ree,” she whispered, her eyes filling with sadness, “I need you to trust me.”

“Of course I do kiddo,” Redemption replied.

Akira smiled sadly. “Whatever I tell you next might change that.”

Redemption lowered his head and stared right into Akira's eyes. “I would go to the end of the Lands for you kiddo. Nothing you can do can ever make me lose my faith in you. You should know that.”

Akira turned slightly away, staring into the distance, as though seeing something her dragon did not. “I know you would Ree,” she murmured. “Don't lose that faith, because I don't think I’ll be able to pull through what is coming without it.”

“Akira,” Redemption spoke softly. “What do you know that you’re not telling me?”

Turning her blue eyes on Redemption Akira let him see the terminal that was going on inside her. Her fear, anger, hurt, acceptance. As Redemption saw it all he saw what Cain had told her, and with it, the thoughts that were currently racing through her head.

“No,” he thought, both at what Cain had said would happen and at what Akira had decided to do.

“It must be done,” Akira whispered in reply.

“No!” Redemption replied.

 “Ree, it has to be done.”

“No!” Redemption pulled away from Akira, his eyes wide and filled with shock, anger and pain all at once. “Akira, there is no way –”

“Redemption!” Akira spoke his name.

Redemption blinked in surprise at the firmness in Akira’s voice as well as the fact that she had called him by his full name.

“You are the Dragon of Legend and I am your rider. Our duty is to protect the Lands.” Akira stared at him, confidence in her eyes. “No matter the cost Ree, we must do what we have to.”

Redemption stared at his rider. Despair, as he saw what she had planned once more, rushed through him. He was sure Akira knew the consequences of what she planned and he couldn’t believe that she would pull through with it.

“If you don’t think we’re capable of this I need you to honestly tell me now,” Akira spoke softly, her eyes searching Redemption’s, “Because if that is what you think, then I’ll have to take other measures.” She reached into her boot and pulled out the dagger she had stored there.

Redemption stared at it, a sense of forbidding filling him. A picture of what Cain had said the dagger was going to be used for flashed through his eyes and he felt every instinct in his body seemed to be screaming for him to run away, yet he stayed put.

Akira’s eyes met Redemption’s as she held the knife ready, its tip pointed at herself. Every instinct in Redemption roared for him to protect his rider from what she would do if he told her to.

“Those actions may postpone things, but it won’t completely stop them,” Redemption told Akira gently.

The emotion that flashed through her eyes showed him that she already knew this and Redemption realized that Akira had thought through all her options. A sudden feeling of acceptance filled him. Redemption knew his rider had made up her mind, and as much as it hurt him, to the extent that he felt as though his heart were torn in two, he knew nothing would change her mind now.

“Is there no other way?” He asked softly giving it one last try, hoping she would have a third option to the two she had revealed to him.

Akira lowered the hand with the dagger and gently placed a hand the side of her dragon’s head. “No,” came her soft reply.

Redemption’s eyes filled with sorrow. “You do realize what this could mean?”

Akira nodded her head. “Yes, but this is the only chance we have.”

Redemption stared into her eyes searchingly, wondering at how much the girl before him was willing to sacrifice in order to fulfill her duty as the Rider of Legend. He had always known when he had chosen her that she would be a rider like none other before her.

Letting out a long sigh he blinked sadly. There was no stopping her now, and even if Redemption could, he would not. For deep down he knew that Akira was right, this was the only way.

“Then so be it kiddo,” his heart felt like it would break as he said those words. Lowering his head slightly he pressed his forehead against Akira’s. “I will trust you every moment of the way, my faith in you will never waiver. We’ll bear this burden together.”

Akira fondled her dragon fondly. “Thank you,” she whispered as she closed her eyes.

They stood there like that for a moment longer before Akira pulled away.

“Alright then,” Akira spoke as she held the dagger up as though to examine it. “We better get to it.” She turned to face Redemption and gave him a half hearted smile. “I guess one way or another, this dagger is going to decide everything in the end.”

Redemption did not reply but only watched as Akira raised the dagger up against the sunlight. Its blade glistened and Redemption suppressed the urge to take it in his teeth and crush it. Letting his gaze roam from the blade he let it land on his rider. A heavy weight, as everything she had revealed to him sank in, seemed to suddenly weigh his heart down.

 Upon a snow covered mountain peak, one of the many which used to separate Haiden’s lands from the rest, stood a dragon. Her pitch black scales against the white snow below her made a stark contrast, and would easily make her visible to anyone who would pass by. Yet she seemed unconcerned about this fact as she stared up at the blue sky.

“The time has come,” she thought in satisfaction. She turned her head in the direction of the first Academy, a smug expression in her eyes. “Now then, come to me, Akira.”