The Second Flames began their attack. They latched onto the metal vessels, which easily gave way to their strength. Stars speckled in their battleground backdrop, in hues of blues, whites, and also stained red with Astrasl Bahamut's blood. Sukoalie led the swiftrunners around the battle, towards the planet of dying source. The Strange Ones weren't able to breathe in the Astral Sea, but every Astral dragon could take in the energy littering the whole known realm of Astral Bahamut.

"What do we do if we sense Strange Ones with magic?" Vielrir asked behind zer.

"We focus on the source key," Sukoalie said. "Any Strange Ones with magic is left to the choices of the cloaked ones. We simply reactivate the planet's key."

"Oh." Vielrir pulled back his muzzle in what resembled boredom.

Zer scales caught the heat of the descent into the planet's embrace. Magic flecked off zer scales, scattering starlight off zer body. Feathers stretched out to catch the new air, from the Astral Sea to the grip of a world. With the Second-Flames preoccupied with the strange metal vessels, it opened up an opportunity.

On the horizon dotted the first epicenter of unnatural energy. Sukoalie stretched zer senses, but could barely feel the source key's power. If it drifted away, the planet would crumble from within its core, taking everything, including the strange ones with their parasitic behaviour down into a fiery explosion.

Without hope of rebirth.

"Remember what I said," zhe told Vielrir. "You watch our backsides, and release the signal if you sense anything strange." Sukoalie took the front of the pack with the biggest swiftrunner. "We're almost there. Try and find a way to the source key. It is imperative that we find it and bring it back to life, before the parasites can drain it further."

Their shadows filled the ground below them, their wings stretching father than the massive swaths of land the strange ones hoped to fill. Sukoalie opened zer mouth, and took the first shot. Although a part of zer resented the parasites, even parasites breathed.

Pain entered zer mind, and she latched onto one of the strange one's tall, metal trees. Vielrir hung back, coiling around a large structure. One of the swiftrunners breathed black and blue flames into one of the buildings supports, bringing it down back to the planet. It crushed against another tall one, while shards of glass fell to the smooth paths below. Sukoalie dug zer claws into the weak glass of the metal tree, a hiss of mist escaping zer maw.

Sukoalie craned their neck downward at the little specks of people, whom the Strange Ones must've abandoned. Their own broodkin. More disgust filled zer heart, but the job was clear. The source key would save everything about the planet. It would give life back to the part of the Astral Sea. Smog filled the rest of zer senses with a murky, rusty taste. Slithering out zer tongue to try and rid zerself of the awful stench, zhe caught the faintest whiff of magic.

It has to be the source key, we are so close.

Their metal trees couldn't withstand the onslaught. Sukoalie tried to battle with the smog, to release zer inner power. Much of the bigger warriors took the largest ones, with the small, inexperienced ones acting as watchers with Vielrir. Everything was going smoothly. Astral Bahamut had to have been watching them from above. Zhe lowered her neck to view the streets, where the abandoned Strange ones fought for any shelter.

Skittering parasites.

One of the swift runners blasted blue flames on the supports of the metal trees, and its weird branches tipped and fell. Sukoalie launched themselves off the building, a rolling call escaping zer from the ice building up in zer soul. Feathers stretching out to intake the untainted parts of the planet, mist escaped from zer jaw.

Astral Bahamut, bear witness.

Bridges of ice and crystal formed with zer breath, and she followed the metal shadow while the parasites screeched below. Protective scales covering zer flight feathers, they flew through the fiery destruction. Twisting on their body, zhe blew more ice on the rolling building. All fell silent, magick rising from their shared dragon power.

"Sukoalie!" Vielrir called. "Sukoalie!"

"What?" zhe asked, coiling around another metal tree, fighting the pain which overtook zer mind.

Parasites. Parasites. Parasites. They're killing the Astral Sea.

"Taste the air!" Vielrir slithered out his tongue. "I'm sensing magic!" Excitement ruffled his feathers. "I don't think it's the source key, but we should check it out! Maybe it'll lead us to the key!"

Sukoalie hesitated, while the destruction of the city calmed, though the swiftrunners circled around it, waiting for more instructions. Zhe stuck out her tongue, past the smog to taste the sweetness of magic. Following the source, zhe turned her head to the outskirts of the metal city. "Yes..." zhe whispered. "Yes, let us investigate. Our goal is the source key."

Zhe took the lead with other experienced warriors, with the initiates gliding behind them. All the trees below them were so small, so tiny, and held no life of magic. Factories littered the area, but they followed the trace of magic.

They circled the area, and Sukoalie craned their neck to investigate. Giant cliffs bordered the city outskirts, and zhe could see their own shadow flit across its surface. Vielrir flew beside them. "Do you sense it?"

"A little," Sukoalie whispered. "There is something wrong."

"Sukoalie," one of the older warriors spoke, then indicated with their forelimb. Zhe twisted her head around, then frowned. A metal ship laid ahead, in the shadow of the giant cliffs. A strange device, black as night, surrounded its shell. Sukoalie came to a stop, and the other dragons followed. Horrible, twisted energy filled the air as the weapon began to spin. It was black, but it wasn't the same calming shade of the Astral Sea above.

This was evil.

This was unnatural.

And it was pointed straight at them.

Except nothing happened, stuck in a staredown with a metal vessel. "I'm sensing the magic come from there," Vielrir said, then flew forwards.

"No! Wait—!"

There was no amount of fiery destruction which could harm a dragon.

Twisting energy exploded from the weapon of blackness and torment. It burst through Vielrir, to the rest of the dragons with horrible, crushing arcs of red lightning. Screams of the dragons filled zer mind, and the world slowed down for a moment.

A moment of unnatural forces.

Zer wings caught the wind of the blast, pulling zer away as she blew fire to meet the incoming arc. It exploded, and pressed through the flames. Blood showered onto the forest below, turning the green to a battlefield for the parasites to feast. One dragon had their wing ripped to pieces, right through their other side.

Parasites.

One dragon fell, chest torn open with the force of Astral Bahamut's holes in the stars.

Vielrir was nothing but a crimson cloud, a painless end compared to the swiftrunners around him.

Zer heart stopped for the world's whim.

Parasites.

Pain.

Fiery destruction, and the ship itself couldn't take the horrible energy it expelled. Sukoalie screeched, then blasted away another arc, but it skimmed against zer flames into zer leg. Pain exploded down it, cracking the bones. Sukoalie twisted around, to make an escape as the other dragons had tried to do.

Energy choked zer as zhe careened back to the ground, upturning some trees as magic left zer body and flecked off her scales. A world, where they were the insects, they were the parasites. Zhe rushed through the forest, shadows covering the chase. Horrible noises of death and unnatural beings taking the forefront.

Crimson continued to fall around zer in rain. A hiss escaped zer as they came to a stop by the giant cliffs. Much bigger on the ground, she stretched out her wings, but all the strength escaped, zer twilight feathers caked with her broodkin's blood.

The Second-Flames will come for us.

They have to.

Astral Bahamut, bear witness. You wouldn't allow such an instrument of death exist. It can't exist. It shouldn't exist.

Sukoalie aimed a breath at the face of the cliff, forming a cave into its bowels. Soil and rock bent to their will, to form a protective shelter. Wings tucked against their sides, and legs full of pain, they hobbled into it. Sukoalie curled up in the deepest recesses, horns scratching the rocky ceiling.

I'm a coward, I'm a disgrace.

Magic never lied. Magic led them to the instrument of terror. Sukoalie dug their muzzle against the ground, unable to sort out through all the emotions. Grief. Anger. Hate. Horrible hate. Mist seeped out from zer jaws, staring at the city in the distant horizon.

No.

Sukoalie made their way to the entrance, leg hanging loosely behind them. If they wish to know destruction. I will show them the black flames of my breath. Sucking in a breath, they gathered what remaining energy they had while smoke of pitch escaped between their maw.

"Sukoalie."

Vielrir.

Through their smog, their smoke, a starry figure took over their dark vision. The crimson rain came to a stop, but the distant shape called out to them. Sukoalie took a step forward, gathering more power to launch one blast at the city of death.

"Sukoalie."

The black flames wasted into coals.

Jaws closed, the world cried. Sukoalie shuffled back into the magic formed cave. Zer breath caught in her chest, bringing up embers to tickle zer long neck. All of her size, gone from the used energy and the lack of an active source key. If a man came in front of zer, zhe could still eat them, it would be what they deserve.

Parasites.

Parasites.

"Sukoalie, why do we call them Strange Ones?"

"Because their connection to the source key has been drained from their techniques. They use things against the natural order of magic. This is what the black ones say."

"Then why are some of the dragons sensing magic from them?"

It was a conversation, so long ago, that could've had Vielrir stripped of some of his scales, and reeducated. Sukoalie hid his questions, hid zer broodbrother's curiosity. All the hatred, wasted away with the pain, with the call of revenge. Zer scales shivered over her feathers, to protect zer from a threat no longer there.

The environment was stained with another bloody battle. The star the planet shared an embrace would be stained red. The clouds of smog around its shell could still glow orange in the sunset, the horizon glittered, and zhe could almost see the great cities of the dwarves around the mountain.

Astral Bahamut, King of the Astral Sea...

Different pain entered zer heart. All the images of the other dragons exploding with the weapon of black, her broodbrother ceasing his life in a cloud of blood. Any hatred which threatened zer mind wasted away. No more hope from the sea of stars entered zer wings. Unable to fly away, back home, where everything would make sense, where zer broodfamily would be safe among their mountain peaks.

Sukoalie's inner fire fell into ashen, blood-stained chills.

Why am I alive, Astral Bahamut?

Through the smog, stars glittered with the sunset. In the horizon, the burning metal city.

Why have you not protected your own from that... unnatural thing.

Water slipped down Sukoalie's jaw scales. Pain, from heart to horn, made zer jolt into the roof. One of their horns lodged, but zhe tugged it out with ease, allowing the pebbles to fall down their spine.

Crush me. Let me die a warrior's death.

Crush me.

Crush me.

The Strange Ones hadn't wanted to be crushed.

Confused, weak, the pain from zer head disappeared. Unable to see the parasites anymore, Sukoalie rested their head against the rocky floor. Once, no stars were stained red. Astral Bahamut led the dragons in all one clan, no matter their species, across the vast comfort of the star filled sea.

More water fell down to merge with the dirt.

I am an Astral Dragon. I know no fear, I know no sadness. We give our lives to protect the Astral Sea, to protect the realm of our ancestors. I am an Astral Dragon.

All Sukoalie could do was cry out the rest of zer pain, like the hatchling Vielrir used to be.