“Façade”

Gina and Drake sat in the mess hall. It was the only place abandoned by all the other students as it had no windows to look out of, thus the two could be alone. Cain had left them to run off with a group of younger boys to continue viewing the storm.

Each time thunder crashed Gina shivered. Drake put an arm around her. He knew she wasn’t afraid. No, Gina was feeling the same way he did. It was as though each lightning bolt, each boom that followed it, was the sound of a dragon in agony.

Redemption let out a snarl as he felt Deception’s claws slice through his flesh, opening a deep gash down his side. Twisting in the air he avoided another blow just in time. He was tiring fast and yet Deception seemed to be filled with just as much energy as she had at the start.

The storm around the two dragons was getting stronger and the wind seemed to howl in triumph every time Deception managed to somehow inflict an injury upon Redemption. The white dragon was struggling. Every beat of his wings was getting harder. His energy was sapping fast as the fight was taking its toll.

As the wind battered against him a rain drop suddenly found its way into Redemption’s eye. He blinked, only for a second, and yet that second was all Deception needed. She slammed into him before Redemption knew what was happening. Digging her claws firmly into him, Deception began to plummet towards the ground with him in her grasp. Redemption tried to scratch her, to perhaps somehow reach her with his teeth, and yet he could do nothing.

Turning his head he saw the clouds disappear. He caught sight of the rock slab Deception was planning to crash him into. Struggled he made one last feeble attempt to get out of her grip and yet he failed. Moments later the black dragon smashed the white one right into the rock slab.

Letting out a snort Deception moved back, staring at the fallen white dragon. Some distance away Akira stood, watching with the same emotionless expression on her face. For a moment Redemption lay still and yet then suddenly, he twitched. Deception watched with her tail swishing back and forth as Redemption slowly dragged himself back to his feet.

It took him three tries before he finally stood again. Dust covered his white scales; his vision was blurred as he swayed. Yet he was not far enough disorientated to realize a change in Deception. It was as though the black dragon suddenly turned even darker, and the power that reeked from her before, doubled. It was so strong Redemption felt as though the pressure would force him back to the ground.

Deception’s eyes seemed to glow brighter and, noticing the change herself, she arched her neck before she pulled back her lips, as though in a toothy smile. Then she let out a roar louder than anything Redemption had ever heard. It was a roar of triumph. For in that moment, the black Dragon of Legend had finally reached full maturity.

As Redemption’s eyesight cleared however, he did not even spare Deception a glance. Instead he was staring at Akira who stood some way behind, still watching. Redemption made a move towards her, yet Deception’s head snapped towards him. Growling she whirled, lashing out with her tail.

It hit Redemption square in his chest. The white dragon felt as though there was a force of not one, but many dragons behind the hit. It knocked the air from his lungs and sent him tumbling across the slab and smashing him through a few remaining walls, which had once separated rooms in the third Academy.

Dust rose into the air before the wind whipped it away, and Deception stood, watching and waiting, her tail still swishing and her yellow eyes gleaming. There was nothing that could stop her now. The wind whipped around her, as though caressing her, the storm claiming her as its own as thunder boomed triumphantly.

Redemption lay still. He didn’t want to move, he didn’t want to feel the pain that would result from doing so. In that moment the Dragon of Legend did not care anymore. He just wanted to die.

“Ree,” a familiar voice dimly echoed in Redemption’s head.

He let out a sigh. That sweet voice, a voice he knew so well. A voice he trusted and loved.

“Ree.” Akira’s beautiful face flashed through his mind, her eyes filled with sadness. Somehow Redemption felt that this was a memory from a time not too long ago.

Suddenly images of Akira raced through his mind. Images of her laughing, throwing her head back as she did so, images of her sending him annoyed looks when she believed he misbehaved, of the look on her face when he threw her down from high places. The way she smiled when she spoke of Seth, the determination written on her face when she wanted to get something accomplished.

“I need you to trust me,” Akira’s soft voice pleaded in his mind.

Redemption’s eyes shot open. “Always kiddo,” he thought. “I’ll always trust you.” Slowly and painfully he pulled himself back to his feet, ignoring the stab of pain it shot through him. “You can count on me,” he thought even though he knew Akira could not hear him.

Slowly and painfully he got to his feet. The white dragon took a determined step forward, towards the spot where Akira waited, towards where Deception stood, blocking his way. He took another step, dragging himself across the rock slab, inching his way towards Akira.

 “I don’t understand,” Linken told Brandon back in the Academy at that very moment. He realized Brandon knew something he did not. “What is going on?”

“I swear. I don’t know more than you do!” Cain was saying at the same time in the room a few floors below. Seth had been asking him question after question. He had listened to Cain tell him most of what he had told Akira.

“There has to be something,” Seth growled as he took a menacing step towards him.

This time Cain didn’t flinch.

“Think back!” Seth told him.

“I’ve told you what I told her, nothing else passed between us!” Cain protested. “I told her what she would become, I told her there was no way around it but for her to die!”

Seth growled.

“Look,” Cain suddenly seemed to get annoyed. “Akira was desperate. She kept claiming that as her future had not yet happened she could change it. However, it’s impossible. I told her so.” He rolled his eyes. “Over and over again, yet it just didn’t seem to want to sink into her thick mind.”

Before he could blink Seth was standing right in front of him, breathing heavily as he glared at him. His fingers had been curled in a fist and he had it raised, ready to punch Cain.

Cain remained unaffected, calmly staring back at him. “In the future, we tried every method. No one knows how, but somehow the fifth Dragon and Rider of Legend appeared in our time.” Cain leaned back in his chair, his eyes glazed over at the memory. “We thought they could help.” He shook his head. “We thought that with them on our side we could surely triumph.” He turned away with a snort.

“What happened?” Seth asked as he lowered his hand.

“You really want know?” Cain asked. “Deception and Akira would have ripped them to shreds had they not managed to return to their own time at the last moment.” He shook his head. “They were a Dragon and Rider of Legend, but against an Akira and Deception who had reached maturity, they couldn’t even defend themselves, let alone put up a decent fight. So you see,” he told Seth. “There. Is. No. Hope. Not now, nor ever.”

Seth turned away, anger in his eyes; anger at his helplessness.

Redemption’s eyes stayed glued on Akira the entire time. Deception watched him as she bared her teeth, her eyes narrowing. Finally she had had enough. She let him take one more step before she lashed out with one paw. The force knocked an already weak Redemption over onto his side and sent him sliding back across the slab once more.

Deception walked towards him, every step making the slab shake and dust rise. Lightning flashed, lighting up her yellow eyes which gleamed as she approached the white dragon. Upon reaching him she placed a paw on his stomach and stared down at him, a triumphant look in her eyes.

Redemption lay panting, ignoring the pressure on his stomach, ignoring the pain as Deception’s claws dug into him. He was covered in dust and blood; pain seemed to be the only thing he could feel at the moment. Yet he kept his eyes on Akira who watched the entire scene with no emotion on her face as she let the two Dragons of Legend fight it out.

For a moment Deception looked like she would finish things off, yet then she paused and turned her head to look at Akira.

“You do it,” She told her. “End it all now. Just kill him.”

“I finally understand everything,” Brandon closed his eyes.

“What?” Linken asked, still not getting it.

Opening his eyes Brandon turned to stare out of the window. “Deception knew she needed Akira to achieve the power no other dragon had before her. She had every step of the way planned out. Yet through it all, she did not consider one thing,” he murmured.

“I’m afraid I still don’t understand,” Linken spoke.

At the same time, at the third Academy, Akira slowly reached for Haiden’s sword strapped to her back, yet something made her pause and she went for the dagger she had strapped on her left upper arm instead. It was the dagger she had found on her bed at the Academy. It was the dagger she had not touched once since, for she had not needed it, until now.

At the Academy Brandon turned away from the window to face Linken. “Deception forgot about the most important aspect of her plan, and that was Akira herself.” Thunder resounded outside, the rain and wind seemed to increase.

Linken furrowed his forehead in confusion. “I don’t get it. Akira accepted Deception as her rider. She did just as Deception planned.”

On the rock slab of the third Academy Akira began to walk towards Redemption. Deception, seeing Akira would do the task herself, stepped back. All the while Redemption watched, his eyes solely on Akira.

As Akira got closed she shot a glance down at the dagger. It was blunt, one of the reasons she had not used it until now. There was no way that with her strength alone it would be able to pierce the white dragon’s flesh deep enough to kill him. Then again, a smile spread across her face, she and Deception had finally reached maturity, and therefore, all her abilities had been restored.

As she walked she suddenly began to glow. It was not the same white light as it had been with Redemption, instead it was more a bluish purple which swirled together, threatening to turn black at any point. Wind whipped around her, blowing her hair back and blasting dust around her to the side. A few leaves, which had found their way to the roof, were tossed up to fly around her in circles.

The wind stayed only around her, mixing with the glowing light which too began to move from her and whip around. It made a roaring sound; it was the sound of pure power. Deception watched as Akira had reached the half way mark to Redemption. Yet when her eyes caught sight of the dagger they narrowed.

“Akira did what had to be done,” Brandon was saying calmly as Linken stood staring at the bookshelf, as though it would hold the answer to what Brandon was getting at.

At the same time Akira, seeming to notice something was up by the way Deception watched, stopped in her tracks. Slowly she lifted the dagger to stare at it. To her surprise, while it too was glowing as she was, it was not glowing in the way she had expected.

For the first time she noticed the small writing etched into it, so small that had the dagger not been glowing, she would have never noticed. Intrigued Akira took a closer look.

His eyes widening Linken whipped around. “Are you saying–?” He trailed off as Brandon nodded. “That’s not possible. Deception can read her mind. She would have–!”

“Yet remember what Seth reported? Akira’s other side did not seem to remember everyone, and therefore not everything. It was a gamble, yet Akira knowingly took it,” Brandon told him.

“Keep your friends close but your enemies even closer,” Linken murmured.

“That’s exactly what she did.”

As Akira stared closer at the writing on the dagger she was able to make out that they all said the exact same thing. She furrowed her brow. What was this writing doing on here? Who had put it there?

Akira barely heard the thunder crash in the background. Neither did she see the lightning bolts that lit up the sky. Her focus was completely on the dagger.

“Do it now!” Deception’s voice in her mind sounded like a whisper, even though the dragon was conveying her thoughts as loudly as possible. She seemed to have returned her interest to Redemption, not thinking much of the dagger. “Finish it!”

Akira didn’t even seem to hear her. Remember. It was one word and yet etched into the dagger over and over again.

“Truthfully,” Cain was telling Seth back at the Academy, “The only way you could ever stand a chance of defeating Deception, would be if by some miracle you found a way to make her as weak as a draglin. Then, while she’s powerless, take her out with an impossibly powerful force.”

Seth froze. “Make her powerless?” He asked. Suddenly his face went pale. He took a step backwards. “There is only one way to take away a dragon’s power.” His head snapped up. “No,” he took another step back. “Surely Akira wouldn’t…” yet he trailed off as he felt the truth sink in. It was as though his eyes had suddenly opened and he was able to see everything clearly.

“What are you…” Cain trailed off, his sharp mind suddenly understanding what Seth had moments ago. He looked dazed. “So she found an opportunity after all. Was she really willing to throw everything away in order to take it?”

Hearing Cain say it made Seth’s heart sink.

“She thought she found a way to get rid of Deception and her own bad side in one blow,” Cain spoke the words Seth dreaded. “It explains everything, why things haven’t been happening the same way as before, why it’s all changed.”

“No,” Seth whispered shaking his head. “No!” Seeming to suddenly snap out of it he turned and rushed for the door.

“You can’t stop her Seth!” Cain yelled after him, seeming to come out of his own daze. “It’s too late. You’ll never reach her in time!” The door was already slamming shut behind Seth.

Cain turned his attention to the storm outside. He narrowed his eyes. How had he overseen this? How had he not thought of it before? It was such a simple way, such a simple truth, and yet it had been hidden beneath everything else, all those lies, that hatred. Akira and Redemption had kept the truth from everyone; they had decided to fight this themselves.

“Akira and Redemption had it all planned out from the start,” Linken exclaimed in Brandon’s office. His eyes were wide with disbelief. “This whole time, almost everything was planned!”

It was at that exact moment that for Akira, the whispering started.

“Remember,” a voice she did not know seemed to whisper. Akira whirled around, her eyes wide. Who had said that?

“Come on,” Deception snarled. She was losing her patience.

“Remember,” it whispered from her right. Again Akira whirled only to find no one there. “Remember what?” She murmured. It was as thought something was supposed to follow after, and yet Akira could not think of what it was.

“Remember,” it whispered again, and suddenly it was coming from around her. Voices, hundreds of them, mingling together and urging her on. “Remember, remember, remember...” they went on and on.

The dagger clatter from Akira's hands and she pressed her palms against her ears. “Stop it!” She screamed.

Deception took a step towards her, her eyes narrowing as she realized something was wrong.

For Seth, who was running down the hallway, time seemed to have slowed down, every step seemed to take too long as he ran, past students who were busy staring out at the storm, past all those who had no clue as to what was going on at that very moment. At the same time he urgently reached out to his dragon with his mind. He had to go to Akira. He had to stop her, no matter what it took.

The voices in Akira’s head only got faster, stronger and more urgent. She felt herself falling to her knees; her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to block the voices out.

“Remember!”

Suddenly they was silence followed shortly by a very faint whisper, “Remember.” Slowly Akira's eyes opened and she stared at the ground, at the dagger that had ceased to glow. “Remember?” she whispered, something telling her that it all had a meaning.

As Seth ran through the Academy towards the courtyard below, as Gina and Drake sat, Drake’s arm around her, as Brandon and Linken stared at each other as though with new eyes, as Deception took a menacing step towards Redemption, seeming to have decided he was the cause of this disturbance, as Redemption watched his rider kneeling on the floor, Akira put her head back and let out a scream. And that was when it suddenly all came back to her.