Silver felt as though she were floating. Her body felt light, almost fragile, like it was about to break apart. The shell on her back seemed like it wasn't even their, but she knew it was. Her wings felt as though they were open and she was flying, but that was impossible. The metal she breathed that she was usually quite familiar with felt as though it wasn't there any more, or rather it had melted through her. The part of her that was metal and the part of her that was flesh had somehow... mixed. The weight that was her metal was completely gone.

Her dream of weightlessness was suddenly broken as something nudged her shoulder. Inwardly, she groaned, not wanting to wake up, but whatever presence it was wouldn't go away. It nudged her shoulder again, and this time the touch was accompanied by sound. It was unintelligible, but that just made it more annoying. However after a couple of moments the sound became bearable, and she could actually distinguish what was being said.

"Silver, please wake up. Come on," the voice spoke in Drakin, so it was definitely another dragon, but she couldn't tell who.

"Wow!" a different dragon spoke, "What happened to your sister? I'm pretty sure last time I saw her she wasn't this... hot."

There was a growl, "I'm trying to figure that out for myself."

"How did she get out here?" another voice spoke, this one female and a fair bit quieter then the two males, "I'm pretty sure she would have been in a tougher situation then we were in if she had been caught by... whatever attacked us."

Silver groaned, causing the three dragons to fall silent and look toward her. They were annoying her. All she wanted to do was dream, fall back into the bliss of nothingness, where she could float in silence. But they probably wouldn't leave her alone until after she woke up.

Mentally sighing she forced her eyes opened. Her vision was blurred for a moment and she blinked, grunting again as a wave of dizziness washed over her. Stars danced before her eyes, before she managed to focus on what was in front of her. A concerned fire drake filled her vision, causing her to growl slightly in surprise.

"She's awake!" the dragon stated, obviously relieved.

She frowned slightly, taking a number of seconds to recognise him, "Blaze?"

He looked down at her again, a smile on his muzzle, "Hey. You alright?"

She groaned again, curling up a little tighter around herself, "No. I feel sick."

He frowned, "What happened?"

She was silent for a moment, "I don't remember."

It wasn't entirely true, but what she did remember was hazy and hard to understand. There were flashes of lightning, and there was the ocean and rain. She remembered being able to see everything and nothing at the same time, and the feeling of unbelievable energy flooding through her. She remembered cries of unbelievable terror and the pattering of running feet over her. But that was it, and it confused her to no end.

Suddenly another thought came to her head and she quickly pushed herself to her feet, looking into the sky above, "Where's Eldawin?"

Blaze tilted his head, "Who?"

She turned, looking around the island in slight fear, trying to find the mind dragon, wondering if what she saw was just another one of his illusions. The blue sky, the free ocean waters, the fact that she had woken on a beach without the device on her head, it made her wary. But as she focused on her surroundings she realised that the water, the trees and the beach were in a detail that was impossible for a mind dragon to match and the fog that had become so apparent in the last nine months, was gone.

She turned to look at Blaze and said quietly, "Are we free?"

He smiled and nodded. Unable to contain herself she leapt forward, wrapping her wings around her brother and letting out an excited bungle. The fire dragon laughed and hugged her back. For him, it was the first time his mind had been his own in over two years. Silver broke the hug, stepping backwards with a small smile.

"Do I get I hug to?" asked West, spreading his wings slightly and smiling innocently.

The metallic dragoness looked at him, taking a small step backwards and frowned, "Who are you?"

"I am West, my dear dragoness, at your service," he dipped his head, "Anything for one as beautiful as you."

She tilted her head, snorting softly, before turning to the last dragon, "Reha, wasn't it?"

The water dragon dipped her head, shuffling a little as if intimidated by Silver, "Y... yes, that's who I am."

The other dragoness smiled softly, "I'm glad to see you're alright, it doesn't seem that many others did."

She looked out over the ocean again, and what was left of the island, surprised to see it in such a state. The water levels had lowered a small amount, but what really astounded her was the amount of elronium scattered along the beach and through the water. It was not that she could see all of it, but she could feel it, like it was calling to her. It made her shiver.

Another memory came to her, the point right before everything became a jumbled mess. The point where she had struggled for the control of her mind, where she had pushed herself until she broke. It was then she realised what had happened, and her wings dropped slightly.

"I reached equilibrium... didn't I?" she said softly.

"I think you did," Blaze replied, walking up to sit beside her.

She nodded her head solemnly, not sure whether to be excited, horrified, concerned or guilty. Looking at the A.O.D.H base, she was quite sure that many dragons had been killed, as well as many of the humans that lived there. The thought made her sick inside her stomach. She had never been one for killing, but now she had the blood of over a thousand dragons on her paws.

"How many... died?" She asked.

"I don't know," he replied, "But before the attack we were ordered to flee, so I'm sure a lot of dragons survived."

"I hope so," she murmured.

"What's equilibrium?" West asked, coming up behind them.

Blaze sighed and turned to face him, "It's hard to explain."

"Well that's no help," he grunted.

"A dragon's equilibrium is a point where both a dragon's conscious and and the nature of their element are in perfect balance," Reha spoke quietly, startling them, "They become one with their element, so it is impossible to distinguish between the two. At first the overwhelming power causes a dragon to loose control of his, or her, self, and they destroy everything," she looks at Silver, "This is what happened to you? Isn't it?"

The metallic dragoness nodded her head softly, looking at her paws, "I think... so."

"Wait, are you telling me she is the one that did this?" West said, looking at her with a mixture of awe and fear.

Blaze nodded his head, "It seems so."

The wind dragon gulped, and took a small step back. Silver sighed softly, looking away from him and over the destroyed ocean. She felt the others looking at her, but she refused to turn back. Instead she looked down at her new body, studying herself with a small frown. Any sign of her undernourishment was completely gone, and she had returned to a healthy weight. Her tail was a little longer, and her wings bigger. Her shell was pristine, the mirror like surface reflecting the surroundings in great detail, and the sun's glare shined brilliantly from it. Her claws were longer, as was her neck and horns, sharpened to perfection. Her teeth were a glistening white and her eyes had a a soft yellow glow. Her pale scales rippled softly, and had taken an almost glassy quality, shining softly.

"You look beautiful," said Blaze, trying to help her feel a little better.

"I don't like it," she replied, "I look too... perfect."

"Is that such a bad thing?" he asked.

"Yes," she snorted, "I was already noticeable before, but now... well, what do you think the first thing that will come to most dragon's minds when they see me. Especially males."

"Oh."

"Exactly," she snarled, lashing her tail, before turning to the sky, "Now, we should get going. I don't want to be here when the surviving members of A.O.D.H come back."

He frowned, "You alright to fly?"

She nodded her head, trying to ignore the lack of energy she felt at the current moment. If she was anything like Raize, it would take a couple of days for her to recover. She turned to the two other dragons who had been watching them in silence.

"Do you two want to come back with us? We are heading to a dragon haven up in the north west corner in China called Sky Mountain. It will be the safest place you can be," she said.

"A... a dragon haven?" Reha said, "I though that was a myth."

She chuckled quietly, "No, it's a real place."

"Well if it's safe, then yeah, I'll go," said West, "Anything to not risk being captured by humans again."

The others nodded their heads in agreement. Silver smiled. It was good that they decided to come, but something was nagging her. Eldawin, who was using humans to destroy humans, and was using her own elronium to accomplish it. She wondered what the dragon  would think if she told them. Would they agree with him? She suspected they would. After spending so much time under humans they would likely hate them.

"Let's get going then, I don't want to spend any longer in this place," she said.

She spread her glittering wings and was about to take off when a growl from West stopped her. The wind dragon was looking passed her toward the beach. He spread his wings and lashed his tail. The dragoness turned around, wondering what had aggravated him, and froze.

There was a human standing on the beach, dressed entirely in black with a scuba diving tank strapped to its back, the round mouthpiece tucked under the mask it was wearing. It had an assault rifle aimed toward them, and seemed frozen to the spot, out of fear or surprise she wasn't sure. A movement in the water caught her gaze and another human emerged, dressed in similar gear, followed by another, and another, until there was a total of five standing there, all watching the dragons.

The two groups watched each other warily, each hesitating and not sure how to react to the other.  The humans had their weapons up, ready to shoot if they needed, but every one of them knew that a gun wouldn't stop a dragon. Slowly one of them moved forward, lowering its weapon as it did.

"Silver?" the voice said.

The metal dragon tilted her head, recognising the voice. The human slowly pulled its mask off, revealing the face of Diana, Silver's handler. The dragoness's eyes widened slightly and she took a small step backwards. West growled angrily and went to leap forward, but was stopped when Silver put out her wing.

"Don't," she told the wind dragon in Drakin.

West growled back, but obeyed, lowering his wings and sitting down on his haunches with a huff. The silver dragon snorted before turning back to Diana. Slowly she walked over to the human, keeping her tail off the ground to avoid dragging it in the sand. She sat down a couple of metres away, looking at who once was her handler. Diana took a step back, a little intimidated, and the other humans readied their weapons. Silver was unfazed by it all.

"What do you want?" she asked in English, the language rolling effortlessly off her tongue.

The dragon handler froze, staring at who was once her dragon with wide eyes, "Y... you can... talk?"

"Of course I can talk," the dragoness snorted, "All of us can. We aren't stupid mindless creatures, like you sometimes make us out to be."

Diana stared in shock at her, seeming not able to comprehend the prospect, "Why... why didn't you ever talk before?"

"Because I couldn't. The device you humans are so fond of prevented me from doing so," Silver lashed her tail.

"B... but... why?"

"Ask your superiors that," she snorted, turning around, "You have been kind to me Diana, so in return I will allow you and your friends to live."

The dragoness walked back over to her group and gave a small nod. West snorted softly, glaring at the humans and not quite agreeing with Silver's reasoning. But he didn't attack, instead choosing to listen. He opened his wings to take off but they were all stopped when another human cried out.

"Wait! You can't just leave us here!" it said.

"Why not?" Blaze grunted, agreeing with his sister but not feeling any remorse.

"Because..." the human hesitated, "We will die if you do."

"No you won't," he said, "This area is very popular with ships, and A.O.D.H is bound to come back eventually, if they're not already on their way here."

"And what if we no longer want anything to do with A.O.D.H?" said Diana quietly.

The dragons looked at each other in surprise. Silver narrowed her eyes in suspicion, tilting her head. Her ex-handler seemed angry. She could see it in her very posture. The human had her hands clenched around the gun, knuckles white, looking as though she was ready to shoot every person around.

"Would that make a difference?" asked the silver dragon.

"Yes," replied the human.

"Even if we agreed we wouldn't be taking you off the island," she said, "Not one of us would be willing to allow you on our backs."

Diana frowned at this, "It would just be for a small distance. To the nearest island."

"Why would we help you?" growled West suddenly, "You have kept us locked away, below ground, some of us for years. A few of us for our entire lives. Why would you do such a thing? What reasoning could you have had for mentally controlling dragons and keeping us locked away? Ha? Was it because we were too powerful? Were you afraid of us? Was it because you though we were monsters, and decided that you would rather control us? Because if it was, then I don't understand your reasoning. There is only one species of monster on this planet, and I'm staring right at them."

The humans seemed shocked at his sudden outburst.

"We were trying to protect your species," Diana tried, "We thought you were in danger throughout the world and needed human support to survive. There are many out there who would rather see you dead. But wild dragons never cooperated, so we used the devices. It never occurred to us that..."

"It never occurred to you that we were what?" West interrupted with a growl, "That we were intelligent creatures with hopes and dreams and feelings of our own. Well guess what, human, time to face reality. You monsters aren't the only creatures smart enough to have a civilisation on this world. And you have made some powerful enemies."

A silence descended upon the island. The humans seemed to grow solemn, and an air of guilt surrounded them. They shuffled nervously under the dragons' gaze. Never had they thought they would be condemned like this. They had worked with dragons for most of their lives, and it was only now they were realising that they hardly knew anything about the species.

"Please," Diana spoke again, her voice breaking, "Give us a chance to make it up to you. I will do anything you want, and I promise I will never work with hunters again. Just... please. Give us a chance to change."

The dragons looked at each other, and hesitated. West seemed to soften a little, his stance relaxing, and he glanced at the other three. Reha seemed to want to give them a chance, and continued to glance toward them. Blaze and Silver were reluctant, but the metallic dragon considered the idea. She had liked Diana somewhat, and was slightly glad to see her alive, but it was something that had her conflicted.

She looked at the other dragons. She knew the one to convince would be West. She tilted her head at the wind dragon. She would be willing to take them at the very least to the next island, but only if all four of them agreed to go. He saw her look and hesitated, before sighing. She smiled.

"Very well," Silver turned toward them, "We will take you to the next island, but no further. Would that suffice?"

Diana let out a released smile, "Thank you, so much. You won't regret it."

"I very well hope not," muttered West.

The humans were quick to take off their masks, revealing the faces that they had hidden. Three of them were males, and two, including Diana, were females. The other human woman had tears in her eyes. Whether they were of guilt or happiness Silver didn't know.

"Diana you can ride with me. Blaze, could you carry two of them?" she asked her brother, considering he was the largest out of the four dragons.

He nodded his head and spoke to the humans, "Just hang on tightly. If you fall off it won't be my fault."

Silver nodded her head in agreement, though to make it easier for the human she focused on her metal shell. The metal rippled and changed, creating what looked like a saddle on her back. There was a hand hold on them as well, as she knew the metal would be quite slippery and rather difficult to hold onto.

The humans each picked one of the dragons. The other female went with Reha, climbing onto the water dragoness with ease. Blaze took two of the males, lowering himself to the ground so they could climb up easier. West had the last human, who approached him warily, not seeming eager to get onto the wind drake's back. Silver also lowered herself to the ground allowing Diana to climb on.

It felt a little strange, but overall the human's weight didn't make too much of a difference. Opening her wings she beat them a couple of times, shaking herself. Her limbs felt weak and tired, and she felt she barely had enough energy to launch herself into the air, but in the end she had no choice. A hand gently stroked across her neck, causing her to glance back at the human with a small frown.

"Sorry," said Diana, pulling her hand back, "It's just... you look so different from when I last saw you."

Silver studied the human for a moment, before sighing softly. Opening her wings she beat them against the ground, lifting herself into the sky. The others followed readily, each of them eager to feel the wind on their wings once again. A few cries of alarm left the humans, but they quickly found their rhythm as the dragons sped into the sky. West let out a happy roar, suddenly not caring if there was a human on his back. He was back in the sky, and he was happy.

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Hey guys! New chapter :) Hope you enjoyed it. Vote if you did and comment what you thought. This chapter turned out to be far longer then I thought it would be. Anyway, next chapter will be out soon. See ya!

Pennator^^