Ragin felt an ugly twist of joy inside Akaysha. The insatiable need to set the world alight made her inwardly writhe in anticipation. He could feel her calling upon wild magic despite having no intention of using it, just to help feed her insanity. The most horrific part of it was a confidence that she could indeed set the world alight, and the will to do it. She knew no one would be able to stand in her way. There was no one strong enough. Anyone that attempted to do she would crush without a second thought.

'It would be my pleasure,' she purred to Tharin, spreading her wings and flicking her tail.

The rider felt sick to his stomach. The madness assaulting her was unlike anything he had felt before. To take over Alageasia and rule it would be something he would understand. Acting out of revenge was something he would understand. Any reason or whim to do what she was about to do was acceptable. But there was no reasoning, no will behind her thoughts. Only a desperate lust to splinter the ground and burn all life. It was like that was the only action that would give her satisfaction.

Akaysha's new mind burned at their bond, threatening to overwhelm him. He had to force himself to remain open to her, knowing that it was the only way to reach her. Maybe... maybe if she remembered him, who he was, and what they had been through. Maybe then she could see him again. Maybe then she would love him again. But as he dug further and further into her conscious all he found was more pain. She didn't attempt to stop him, seeming to enjoy his ever shattering heart.

The worst part about Tharin's spell was that she did remember everything. She remembered the love they used to have for one another, how he had raised her, their difficulties and triumphs, but none of it meant anything to her. She even remembered the pain she went through when Tharin cast the spell, but it was like she didn't care about any of it. She had completely rejected who she had been and embraced her new self.

Desperation flowed through Ragin, and in a last ditch effort mentally called her new twisted true name in an attempt to control her as Tharin had done, but she reacted like a snake. The wild magic coursed through her and slammed into Ragin, splintering the column he was trapped against and sending him through it and onto the ground, winding him as well as breaking several ribs. She hissed, taking a step back and shaking her head as she felt the physical pain he was feeling, closing herself off to him as much as she could.

Tharin simply watched the two with a sickening smirk. Ragin groaned, laying on the ground, too dazed and disorientated to do anything else. The man turned back to Akaysha, and a silent conversation passed through them. While Ragin didn't hear anything, he felt a wave of nausea at the glee emanating from the mad dragon. With a rumble of delight, she leapt into the air, beating her wings and flying into the storm with a surge of magic. It was quickly followed by a screaming roar that felt like ice, sending chills into anyone that heard it.

Tharin sighed contently, before turning toward the prone thief, "Now, Ragin my boy. What should I do with you? Unfortunately, until we destroy the dragon-rider bond I can't kill you, as much as I'm sure you would want that. But I can still make your life miserable."

Ragin heard footsteps approaching him and panicked slightly, trying to draw his arms under him to move. As he did though a wave of dizziness made him collapse back onto the ground. The footsteps stopped near him and a foot was pushed into his back, causing him to groan out loud. Tharin laughed at him, shaking his head.

"I could break into your mind, force you to swear loyalty to me and then fly with Akaysha again? If that's what you want. Though I do not think you quite deserve to fly with such a beautiful creation," he sighed again, "Oh she is better than I could have ever imagined. Did you feel that desire in her? It rivals even my own!"

A flicker of light caught Ragin's eye as Tharin continued to ramble, the man's own madness breaking through. He blinked as he saw the ring that had been discarded. He forced his breath to calm down, trying to fight back the extraordinary pain wracking his body, and slowly reached out his hand. Not bothering to speak, he reached into his own reserves of magic and cast a quick simple spell. The ring was catapulted along the floor, neatly finding his finger. Almost immediately relief flooded him as the bond between Akaysha and himself was gone. Never had he felt so relieved to be separated from her.

"Oh you devilish bastard," Tharin narrowed his eyes, "If you think that'll-"

He was cut short as Ragin suddenly moved, fighting past the pain as he slammed his elbow into nerves behind Tharin's knee, causing his opponent to curse out loud as his leg collapsed underneath him. They both grunted as Tharin fell to the ground. Ragin, taking advantage of the momentary lapse, quickly rolled, throwing the other man off him and cursing as the pain in his ribs spiked. He staggered to his feet, just as Tharin did.

Ragin narrowed his eyes, taking a step forward and swinging a large right hook at the madman. Tharin, just as exhausted as Ragin from the amount of magic he had used, couldn't even think of blocking or dodging and simply took the blow, staggering backwards with a cry. Ragin continued the assault, tackling the man and pressing his left hand into shoulder he had managed to land a blow on. Tharin let out a choking scream, and a sudden flood of magic left him. Ragin was flung from his position and landed a couple of metres away. He was winded again as pain flooded his broken body.

The two men lay where they were for a moment two, both attempting to recover from their respective pain.

Tharin was the first to get to his feet and yelled out a spell, "Slytha!"

Ragin flinched, expecting to feel the drowsiness of the spell to hit him full force. But he was surprised to find his wards still intact, the piece of magic simply bouncing off them after a slight drain of his energy.

The thief responded in kind but with a far deadlier spell, "Freohr!"

But nothing happened. It seemed both had kept their more nuanced wards that protected against direct magic. Tharin realised this before Ragin did, and quickly drew out the weapon he still had at his hip. Ragin reacted, diving to the left. A large bang sounded through the ruins of the mansion, but the projectile narrowly missed the thief. Ragin ducked behind cover as the second shot grazed his shoulder. He pressed his back against the fallen roof he had hidden behind, breathing heavily. He coughed, spitting blood from his mouth as he struggled to regain his breath.

"You bastard! You useless brigand!" Tharin yelled out insults from where he was still standing, "You'll pay for that!"

"No longer want to keep my alive hah?" Ragin called out.

Silence met his words, though he heard Tharin breathing rather heavily. It seemed he hadn't moved from his spot, though Ragin heard a number of odd clicks from the weapon Tharin was holding. His thoughts moved quickly as he attempted to figure out what to do next. He was not fast enough to continue to dodge those shots, blaming his recent success on Tharin's rushed shots. Magic wouldn't work, it would take all his effort to break through Tharin's remaining wards. He would die in the effort, though at this point death wasn't exactly a negative.

He gritted his teeth, shaking his head as he tried to push away those dangerous thoughts. He had to believe there was a way to save Akaysha. He hadn't figured it out yet, but he wouldn't give up on her. She didn't deserve that.

"You know," Tharin's voice echoed out over the ruins, "I love these weapons. I like to say I invented them, but in reality they have come from over the seas... somewhere. I didn't bother to pay attention to where. But they are so useful. They level the playing field don't you think? Even magic struggles to counter them."

"What sort of weapon is it?" Ragin replied, listening intently in case Tharin was using his voice to cover his footsteps.

"It's called a gun," Tharin continued, "Uses a controlled explosion to send a small projectile out the barrel at a rapid speed."

"What sort of projectile?"

"Why would I tell you?! The moment you knew you would be able to cast the wards to protect yourself from it."

"True. But it would even the playing field, don't you think?" Ragin said, looking around the ruins for anything that might help him.

He spotted the hilt of his sword, Wyrda, behind a piece of rubble. Thinking of the swords name bought out a grim smile on his face. With a blade literally named 'Fate', how could he not end up in his current situation. It would be difficult to get to the weapon, but if he did he knew that there was an excess storage of energy in the gem on the blade. It would help him recover, at least a little.

"It would," agreed Tharin, "But at the moment, I don't think you really deserve an even playing field."

"You have an odd sense of justice," Ragin replied.

"You're not the first person to have said that."

"I'm going to be the last though."

"Your confidence is-"

"Garjzla!" the rider cried out, sending a bright light into the sky.

Tharin cursed, and Ragin sprinted out into the open. Ignoring the pain in his broken ribs he slid behind the rubble hiding his sword and picked up the blade, coughing up more blood and groaning. He heard the gun go off again, but with the blinding light making it difficult to see the shot went wide. Again there was silence as the light died down, leaving Ragin even more exhausted than before. But he had the sword now, which made things a little easier.

Forcing himself to breath slowly again, he gently slid the ring from his finger. He flinched as the raw emotions of Akaysha flooded back into him, distant as they were. He felt a surge from within her, followed by an incredibly powerful spell that shook the earth. He heard Tharin gasp in surprise, and he held on to the blade, groaning as the vibrations caused pain to reverberate through him. A moment late the earthquake stopped, allowing Ragin to recover, though he wondered what sort of magic his dragon was using to create such a powerful effect. Struggling to ignore the power of his dragon he gently pushed his mind into the gem in the hilt of his blade, draining it as he pulled the energy into himself. He was only able to gain a little from within the blade before Tharin's mind slammed into his own. Gritting his teeth he hurriedly pushed the ring onto his finger again, silencing his mind.

"You continue to annoy me," Tharin growled, "Maybe it isn't worth the effort keeping you alive."

Ragin remained silent as he cast a healing spell on his chest, relieving some of the pain. Tharin's words didn't scare him. Even if he was killed Akaysha would fall with him, putting a large dent in Tharin's plans for destroying Alageasia. He would rather they both die than remain as they were, Akaysha a bloodthirsty monster and him a broken rider.

He gripped the hilt of Wyrda and stood up, keeping himself hidden behind the ruins. He had returned at least a bit of his energy from what was in his sword, and with the pain in his ribs dwindling he was in a far better position than before. He might even be able to take Tharin by surprise. The only trouble was that the man still had his 'gun'. If he revealed himself for a moment, then he was practically guaranteed a shot to his leg. He doubted Tharin would miss again.

"Come on Ragin! Stop stalling!" Tharin taunted, "Even if you kill me, what does that change. Akaysha will still destroy everything!"

"Not if I stop her," Ragin muttered to himself.

"Just accept your fate Ragin. There is no situation where you win this. Even if you do somehow make it out, and rescue Akaysha, do you think the dragon riders will really allow you to stay with them? Do you really think, after what you've done, they'll accept you back?"

Ragin closed his eyes, forcing the sudden well of emotions down. He knew fully well that he would never be accepted back. But he wasn't going to let that stop him from saving her... or stopping her. It was his fault all of this had happened. His fault they were in their current situation. He was the one that would have to fix it.

The ground rumbled again as another cacophony of wild magic flooded the storm, lighting streaking down in giant flashes as it struck again and again at the city of Gilead. He could hear the screaming over the wind, along with the roars of a dragon as she lashed out with magic, fire and claw. He didn't know how many people she had killed already, but it wouldn't take her long to destroy the entire city. After that he didn't know what she would do. He needed to finish this battle now.

He closed his eyes, forcing himself to clear his mind as he listened, trying to think of how he would be able to achieve Tharin's defeat. The moment he stepped out he would be in danger. He could throw his sword, but doing so would allow Tharin way too much time to react and either block the weapon or dodge it and retaliate. He had to get close to him somehow.

An idea suddenly came to him, and he gripped his blade nervously. It was a dangerous risk, but if he managed to pull it off then it would catch Tharin by surprise, and give him the time he needed to drive Fate into the man's throat. The problem was he needed an unnatural speed and precision that he would only gain from a couple of words in the enchanted language. He estimated he had the energy levels for maybe two of those spells.

Closing his eyes, he forced his heart race to calm. In his line of work, he had never questioned his abilities before. Why start now? Taking a deep breath, he stepped out from behind his cover, facing toward Tharin with narrowed eyes. As predicted, Tharin was surprised by such an action and hesitated in firing the gun. He smiled slightly.

"Accepting your fate are we?" he smirked.

"No, making yours," Ragin took a running step forward, and casting a spell in the enchanted language that he had never done before, "Sayell fe'esh."

He had never tried layering the words of the enchanted language. Vanir had warned him against it, saying that it drained the energy far too quickly to be of any use in a normal battle. But this wasn't a normal battle, and these words layered together would give him the speed and sight he needed to finish the battle.

As he predicted Tharin fired the gun a little late, surprised at his sudden movement. The world slowed down, and for a moment Ragin could see everything. It was like he had gained a dragon's sight. Everything became much more detailed, to the point where he could see every drop of rain, every flicker of the flames. He could see the flash of the small explosion within Tharin's gun, and saw the tiny speared projectile sailing toward him, followed by a puff of smoke from the weapon. Gripping his sword, he swung it with unnatural speed, fuelled by the power of his spell. For but a moment he thought he had made his move too late, as he watched both the blade and the projectile coming together. He nearly panicked, thinking he had missed it, but the feeling was quickly replaced by relief as the edge of his sword caught the small ball in mid-air, just hitting the side. There was a slight clang, and the projectile was forced off course, missing him by inches.

Taking another step forward, and using the remaining speed of the spell, Ragin covered the range between Tharin and himself with blinding speed, and without hesitating stabbed his blade down to the hilt into Tharin's chest. Then the spell wore off, followed by a wave of exhaustion that flooded Ragin's very core. He staggered, collapsing to a knee as his vision swam with colour, nearly blinding him. Tharin coughed, his mouth filling with red blood. He looked down at the sword in his chest, confused at what had just happened.

Ragin felt his entire body failing. The energy he had just used was far greater than what he thought it would have been. The world began to fade into a tunnel, and it felt as though he were falling. It reminded him of what had happened when he had been shot in the chest, though this was far less painful. The thought that he was dying was a comfort however. Tharin wouldn't survive that wound, and Akaysha would fall with him. In the end... everything would be well. But some part of him wasn't satisfied with that. Some part of him desperately struggled to climb out of the ever deepening whole that was death.

His mind went into overdrive as he sort out a way to survive. The solution hit him like a brick. He tore off the ring from his hand, reaching out his fading mind to the gem in his sword. There was still some energy in that. With a cry he sucked what was left into his body like a leach, falling to his hands with a groan of relief as life flooded back into him. He smiled, and let out a laugh as he realised that what was left in the blade was enough to save him.

He looked up, surprised to find that Tharin was still standing, staring at the sword as though it wasn't real, his head tilted to one side. Suddenly his legs seemed to buckle, and he fell to his backside near Ragin. The thief pushed himself to his knees, looking at Tharin and wondering how he still had a semblance of life. Tharin's dreamlike eyes turned to him, and he smiled, a horrific too wide smile that was made all the more worrying by the trickle of blood ran from his mouth.

"Aaah... that feels weird," he said, grasping the hilt of Fate with his hand, having dropped the gun to the ground, "Death feels weird, doesn't it?"

Ragin could feel the man's mind fading with every second, and he narrowed his eyes, "It's over Tharin, you lost."

Tharin coughed a laugh, splattering blood all over the ground in front of him, "I lost? I did... didn't I? Or did I? I don't know. People are dying... and you won't stop her. You can't stop my dear Akaysha!"

He laughed again, the laugh quickly turning into a cough, which dwindled as his head fell to his chest. Ragin saw the light disappear from the man's eyes as his life faded away. Like that Tharin Foeswarn was gone, but somehow his death didn't feel like any sort of accomplishment as a wave of wild magic washed over the forest.

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Hey guys! New chapter! I'm on a role XD I hope you enjoyed this one! Tharin finally got what he deserved, so vote if you enjoyed and comment on what you think will happen next. Ragin's battle isn't over quite yet. The next chapter will be out as soon as I can get it. After this chapter there is only four left... I think, maybe five, but we'll see. See ya!

Pennator^^