"MARHAK!!!" Irisjus ran towards him, her heart beating so fast that she could feel it inside of her chest. She skidded on the marble floor to a halt beside him, her talons feeling his face.

"Iris...Jus. Please-" he coughed, his mouth spewing out dark red blood. "Just save... Our.... Daughter. You have...." he coughed again, then let out a small cry of agony from his deep, deathly wounds. "To go.... He's..."

"No, I can't leave you! Don't even say that!" Irisjus started to reach down to pick him up in her arms, but Marhak pushed her talons away.

"No, leave!" Then he coughed again, leaving a dark red puddle of blood on the floor. "He's...."

"Here. He's here," came a voice from the shadows as a dark, red and black muscular dragon sauntered out. His face had a nasty gash across it, which looked fresh. Irisjus knew that that scar would stay with him forever, he was a MorphWing, and MorphWings couldn't change major injuries like that no matter what they morphed into. His red eyes gleamed in triumph as he neared. "Hello Irisjus, hello dragonet." He came closer, close enough that Irisjus could feel him breathing down her neck.

"Who are you?" Queen Irisjus asked, showing no sign of fear. She stared at him, his bloody claws gleaming. "You did this, didn't you? You almost killed my mate! My love!"

"That I did, and I'll do it again, to you and your dragonet. Then the MindWings will be history, a mere legend that we tell to our dragonets at night. For all the rest of your tribe has been defeated, but so has mine." Irisjus noticed that he was right, the attacks on the castle were no more, and the sound of battle was gone, leaving only silence. The dragon continued, "we are the last of our kind, but I can destroy you and kill you. Oh, did I mention? I'm Cakus, King Cakus."

"The king of the MorphWings, ah, so you've finally come out of hiding. You coward, leave my family alone!!!" the Queen roared, her eyes shining with need of vengeance. Then she swung her talon towards his chest and drew blood with a nasty slash! Cakus winced only a little, still standing strong.

He grabbed her with enormous black talons on her snout and chest, pulling them apart to reveal her bare neck, his wing rising threateningly. The red, blood stained blade that ran along the outside spine of the wing came to touch Queen Irisjus' neck.

"Don't move or this blade will see more glorious blood," King Cakus snarled, then he turned to the lightheaded Marhak and grinned evilly towards Irisjus. "It's time my friend, to watch your beloved mate die."

Then, with a wail from Irisjus, he cut deep into the MindWing King's chest and grabbed ahold of Marhak's own heart, pulling it out with a jerk and letting blood gush onto the floor in a fountain of death.

He turned to Irisjus, who had tears spilling down her face and a mix of emotions churning through her body. She desperately wanted to slice his face off, but she knew that was foolish. "HOW COULD YOU?! YOU'RE A MONSTER!"

"Oh, not a monster, sweetie..... A ruler." He laughed, joy of his victory overpowering him as Queen Irisjus saw something he didn't. What she saw was this, his talons had stopped holding her, allowing her to escape. She just needed a plan. She could easily maneuver through the castle safely to escape, she knew the tunnels and hallways better than him, but where would she go? The hold. The treasure hold. There are animus touched objects there and I think I just might know one that could save us...

The queen smiled down at her dragonet, the small eyes reflecting fear. It will all be over soon, trust me.

Then she bit down on the black wing, careful not to cut herself, and took off down the hall, regretting not bringing Marhak's body with her, but knowing that it wouldn't have worked out. But still, leaving him was hard. She strained to run faster than ever, her legs burning with tire.

"IRISJUS!!!!" It was Cakus. She snorted, her plan was too tricky for him to figure out, and she would have plenty of time to work the animus touched objects with him still trying to figure out where she was.

Soon she burst into a bright gold room, full of treasure. Locking the door behind her and barring it with anything she could find, Irisjus carefully slid the dragonet's sling off of her neck and set it down. The female dragonet whimpered a little, but then stayed calm as Irisjus set to work.

Sweat ran down her face as she dug through a chest. Items of different kinds were flung everywhere as she searched through the animus touched objects and various treasures. Then she came across a small orb. Smiling, she raised her talon and threw the orb onto the floor. As soon as it made contact, a large portal appeared. Taking a magic scroll, Irisjus wrote a message just before she heard pounding on the double doors. Her green eyes narrowed as she quickly threw the scroll through the portal and dived towards the almost empty chest. She dug threw it and easily found what she was looking for, a dried reed.

This reed had animus power in it, power that she would use to send her dragonet to safety, and once she knew that the young MindWing was safe, hopefully herself too. Thinking hard and closing her eyes, she held the reed as it started to glow. It then realised a mist that poured out from it like water and flowed to the bundled up dragonet. The mist swirled around the dragonet, blocking her from view as one of the doors creaked at the entrance, it's hinges barely clinging onto the wall. Then the mist surrounding the dragonet vanished and there lay a large meteorite, an asteroid, a rock the size of a full grown dragon.

Irisjus could only hope now as she closed her eyes again. The reed let of a soft glow once more before the doors burst open and the dragonet's meteorite sped towards the portal and disappeared through it.

Snapping her eyes open, Irisjus saw the MorphWing king was standing at the entrance to the room, heaving with exhaustion. Sobbing, Irisjus knew that she could not follow her dragonet, not with Cakus here. No, the portal should not be open and no animus object should be in his grasp. So, holding the reed, she concentrated one last time, closing her tear-filled eyes... destroy all animus-touched objects and Close the por-

But suddenly a huge, hot ball of fire hit her, sending her tumbling backwards. The reed slipped from her clawtips and flew out of reach, then it disappeared, along with all of the other animus touched objects. The fireball had hit the queen's wing, setting the membranes on fire. The hot flames licked at her scales as Irisjus screamed in agony.

"That's what you get for saving a stupid little dragonet," Cakus spat, walking towards the cowering, burning queen with a deep, angry growl. "That dragonet was my last chance at getting my tribe back! An innocent soul like that could have refilled a body, my mate's dead body. She was expecting an egg! So now, now that you've sent away my last chance to rebuild my tribe and revive my love, you shall pay. Pay with your life."

Then he held open her mouth with long, red claws and shot a bright red and orange fireball into her open maw. Queen Irisjus screamed, but no sound came out. King Cakus shot another ball of flame into the poor dragon's mouth, and another, and another. He shot them until the queen's heart was still and her muscles were limp. He shot them until he could shoot no more. Then he smiled, dropping the dead body and turned to the portal. It was starting to fade.

"No, no no no!!" Cakus roared and charged at the portal. He lunged into it just before it snapped shut, and then all was quiet...