A misstep always led to death.

The man in the shining armour, walking through the most fearsome forest of all worlds, knew it well.

Perhaps he had taken a few wrong steps in his past life, and those mistakes had to be paid for...had to be paid for with lives. Two young, hopeful, innocent lives.

But now he had come back to set things right, and he would set things right, no matter what it took.

He had thought about it a lot, had calculated a lot, had made out the connections of everything with everything. He had to be right, this had to be the way in which it could be achieved.

He would just have to read the mind of the dragon, that was all.

Shivam smiled to himself, a smile of confidence, as he trudged through the Forest of Falling Leaves.

He trampled the fallen leaves under his shoes, and didn't care. He carried the Shadowblade in his hand, and though the monsters of the Forest watched him from behind the trees, they dared not to attack--the Shadowblade, after all, was the most powerful qeapon in this world. And the trees all around him burned, as their leaves were crushed beneath Shivam's feet, and burning branches and twigs and leaves fell like snow from the sun.

Josh had been overjoyed to see him, when he entered his new Palace, and said he had decided to come back, after all. Josh had danced and jumped up and down right in the centre of the Royal Court, and then had hugged him and had begun to climb on him, intending to sit on his shoulders. Shivam had smiled broadly and hugged him back, then had given him a ride on his shoulders.

Sabrina and Sylvia were also in the Royal Palace, and they were glad to see him, too. When he had explained his intentions to them all, Sabrina had nodded grimly. "It probably won't work...but who knows...? It just might. Go for it, Shivam," Sabrina had said.

Shivam kept walking through the Forest of Falling Leaves, and thought about what Sabrina had said. Well, in case of Took, it wouldn't work. But for Tiyasha...well, he would know soon enough.

Shivam took a look around. The Forest of Falling Leaves. He had died here.

And then Tiyasha had brought him back. Back from the dead. It had been possible only because he was a Raiser, apparently, and also because there was an Eclipse within twenty-four hours of his death.

A Raiser. One who could raise Dragons. But weren't witches some kind of Raisers, too? Wasn't that the only reason why Blikrot had destroyed the Witches' Haunt? So if he had carried within himself the possibility of being Reincarnated, maybe Tiyasha, too...?

But of course, there was going to be no eclipse this time...and too much time had passed, anyway.

Yet Shivam wouldn't know, until he tried.

As Shivam approached the black lake in the forest, he found the Dragon waiting for him.

"Shivam, once again you have come to me. And by trampling on the leaves of this accursed forest, you have set me free. This will be the last wish I ever grant. Then...then I can fly, again," the Dragon spoke.

"Set you free...? Last wish? I don't understand," Shivam said, as he walked to the edge of the lake.

"I don't blame you. You're human."

"Explain, then, what you mean," Shivam said. He had to involve the Dragon in a conversation first, before making his wish.

'Has he figured it out?' Shivam heard the Dragon think, and his confidence increased. "Explain, Dragon. You'll have some explaining to do today," Shivam said, and shifted the Shadowblade from his left hand to his right.

"Desires bind us, Shivam. A human may think the fulfillment of his strongest desire will lead to satiety, but it never does. A newer, sharper desire soon emerges. One could argue that the fulfillment of a desire is not only a gift, but also a curse, because it usually leads to even greater, more impossible desires. You think it was my decision to be the only Dragon who could grant human wishes, the only dragon who lost his right of flying? It is...was my curse, until someone broke the system. Which you have," the Dragon said.

"Who cursed you?"

"That's a long story, longer than yours, I'm afraid; and that's not what you're here for. Make your wish, human. If it be fair..."

"Fair. A strong word, isn't it?" Shivam cut through the Dragon's words. 'Oh no...he knows,' he heard the Dragon thinking. The Dragon also thought about some other things, but Shivam couldn't understand them. He had to focus harder. Otherwise he would fail. He touched his temple with the index finger of his left hand.

"The truth is, you haven't been fair with us," Shivam said. "You manipulated our wishes. You manipulated Blikrot's wish. Then Arthur's. Then mine."

"What do you mean, human?" The Dragon roared in anger.

"Don't threaten me!" Shivam snapped back, ready to use the Shadowblade, if necessary. "You could have granted Blikrot Immortality! You could have given it to Arthur too! And you could have made Aparajita appear right here when I came to you for the first time! You can grant any wish! It's just that you don't want to!"

"I am no Lord over the matters of life and death...no one can be immortal, not even me. I told you before," the Dragon said.

"And you lied," Shivam said pointedly. Right then, the Dragon's mind was transparent like water for Shivam, and he could see right through it.

'How did he figure it all out,' the Dragon thought, and Shivam heard it. "How did I figure it out? Well, it occured to me when I thought about the our first wishes...and Blikrot's too. You always threaten to kill one if one's wish is not "fair", right? Yet you never killed Blikrot, or Arthur, even though you didn't grant their original wishes. Which could have only meant one thing. You manipulated their wishes," Shivam said.

The Dragon remained silent for a while. "So you have learned how to read my thoughts, Raiser," the Dragon said.

"Why did you fool us so?" Shivam demanded.

"To save all worlds from burning," the Dragon replied simply.

Shivam opened his mouth to shout again, but then closed it. He nodded. "I am going to make my wish now. And you will grant it, whether it's fair or not. Time will decide whether it's fair," he said.

"And what is your wish, human?" The dragon asked, its voice echoing through the forest fire.

"I want you to bring Tiyasha back to life," Shivam said.

The Dragon stared at Shivam. After a few moments of silence during which nothing but the burning, crippling leaves could be heard, the Dragon just said: "Granted." Then it spread its huge wings, shot up in the air, and in the blink of an eye was gone, screeching, swirling through the air.

Above Shivam's head, an eclipse began eating away the sun.

***The End***

August 2016-April 2017.