Silver narrowed her eyes in concentration, focusing on the large mass of metal floating in front of her. It moved like water, constantly shifting and changing its shape. She hadn't mastered the art of keeping it completely solid yet, but if anything it was better to keep it constantly moving than still like a statue. So she kept it like that, wings slightly spread, completely still, seeming to be waiting for something.

She was in the clearing outside her cave. A familiar silvery light surrounded her and along with it the same freezing of time she that had become so familiar. The trees were in mid-sway and there was a bird sitting on a branch, staring at them for what had seemed like hours. In front of the dragoness were four large boulders, each about the same size as her. They seemed unnatural in such a green area.

Silver blinked, and at that moment the boulders were suddenly in the air, falling toward the ground. She let out a growl of surprise and her metal bubble moved with surprising speed. It warped out of its shape, becoming a long whip-like blade that pieced the air around it. The blade smashed into the first bolder, running right through it, and continued onwards, moving like a snake in the air. It pieced the next boulder, leaving a line of elronium behind it so that each rock was connected to the last.

As the metallic blade cut through the middle of the last rock and Silver quickly pulled its movement to a stop, the end expanding into a cap so the boulder wouldn't slide off the end. She looked into the air with a small grin, seeing what she had done. Each of the four boulders was hovering, trapped in the air by a thin stream of elronium that connected each one, looking similar to the shape of a crescent.

"Well done Silver!" exclaimed O'hen, who had been sitting behind her the entire time.

She looked back at him with a grim smile, before turning backwards with a sigh. That had been surprisingly easy, but then again, the more she learnt about her powers the easier everything became. She knew how her metal worked, how it moved, how it flowed. It had had become as much part of her as her tail.

The time dragon tilted his head, "You seem rather... stoic today. What's up?"

"I'm surprised you don't know already," Silver replied, sitting down on her haunches and yawning loudly.

It was the morning, an unusual time for the two of them to be training, but Silver had decided that it would be better for her that morning. It helped keep her mind from the horrors of the previous night. Fighting always did that. One had to focus on everything and anything around them, and you couldn't afford to be distracted by meaningless thoughts.

"So they've started then," he guessed, "The nightmares."

She nodded, sitting down on her haunches and yawning again, shaking her head, "Yeah. They have."

He smiled softly at her, walking over and sitting down as well, "You just need to remember that they aren't real."

"How long will they be going for?" she asked, "Because if he is as determined as he seems to be I'll be getting a lot of sleepless nights."

"They will continue until you either gain control of your mind, or until he does succeed in breaking you," stated the time dragon, looking at her and tilting his head.

"Oh," she shivered softly. When Eldawin said he was going to break her, she didn't expect him to do it slowly, over months, "Is... is there anything that'll help me fight back?"

O'hen thought for a moment, "Have you ever heard of lucid dreaming? Its basically when you take control of you dreams and you can do... well... whatever you want while in the dream. Against Eldawin it will be difficult, but if you are able to gain control of your dreams that'll be a massive step forward in controlling yourself as well."

She nodded her head, a little interested, "I just wish that he would stop. Why does he target me specifically? I'm not the most influential dragon in the world."

"That's not exactly true Silver," he smiled at her, "I don't know if you've realised this, but legends of your power have been spreading throughout the world, both through dragons and humans alike. Since dragons have become most common knowledge now, governments are wary. Dragon hunting corporations are afraid, and everyone has heard of 'The Silver Dragon'. You may not believe me when I say this... but Eldawin is afraid of you. He is afraid of what you will accomplish if allowed to continue, and that is why he is trying his best to stop you."

"Then why doesn't he just kill me? You said it yourself. If he wished he could stop my heart with a thought," she grunted.

He hesitated, "I'm not entirely sure of his reasoning, but in a way he admires you, loves you like a granddaughter. And, you do look a lot like Diara, his dead beloved. You have many similarities with her actually."

She looked at her feet, flicking her tail, "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

"Well, at the moment it's what is keeping you alive," he smiled at her, "I would say that is a good thing."

"Yeah," she chuckled softly, "I guess so."

"I think that'll be enough for today," O'hen looked at the still floating rocks Silver had been keeping in the air, "You are definitely improving far more rapidly then I would have hoped. Just be careful not to overtrain. Oh, and one more piece of advice. I recommend you use your equilibrium at least once before you face Eldawin. It will help you better understand what you are capable of like that."

She blinked, "But won't I...."

He cut her off, "Depends on how you reach it Silver. Just do it calmly, without a rush, and you'll be fine."

She smiled hesitantly at him. He grinned back in a comforting way, before glowing that silvery glow again, and disappearing back into time. Once again the trees moved, the birds sang and the wind whistled. The dragoness shook her head, still getting used to the stoppage of time.

She glanced up at the boulders still connected by her metal stream. She disconnected her mental link and watched as they crashed down to earth. Already weakened by cracks caused by the metal, the rocks shattered as they landed, breaking into a number of pieces and leaving a metallic crescent lying amongst the rubble.

Yawning one more time Silver took to the air, not bothering with cleaning up the mess just yet. She flew toward Sky Mountain, back to the gathering of dragons. Since the battle nine and a half months ago the population of the haven had nearly doubled, reaching just over four thousand dragons. It meant that it was much more crowded, and Silver was glad that she lived along the outside edge.

There were groups flying through the air, groups that Silver had learned were practicing fighting with humans. Most of them were from the group that Retrix brought back, but there were a number of Sky Mountain dragons that were comfortable enough to allow humans on their back. It was strange though, while it would be a massive advantage for a human, it hindered what a dragon would be able to accomplish compared to if they were alone.

The dragoness sighed, folding in her wings to dive into the entrance of the mountain. She was thinking of heading to the training area. As great as training with the master of time was... it wasn't quite as real as when sparring with another dragon. Plus, she enjoyed testing out her new powers in a more real situation.

As she flew into the mountain she instantly spotted a familiar dash of purple scales in amongst the others. Retrix was heading outside it seemed, but when he saw her he hesitated, before smiling and opening his wings to meet up with her. Silver stopped, hovering in the air as she waited for him.

"Hey Retrix, where are you going?" she asked.

"I was actually just heading over to get you. Iraliene has called an emergency meeting. Apparently Tyler has made a breakthrough with something," he stated.

"Oh? Do you think he found the location of The Machine?"

"No... I doubt it. But she seemed pretty excited, and Iraliene never gets excited."

"Wow... now you've made me curious," the silver dragon laughed.

Retrix nodded in agreement and together they flew into The Nest and up to Iraliene's cave. It was becoming a common place for them all to meet, and it slightly annoyed Silver. It wasn't as if she wanted to go there as often as she did, but it couldn't really be hoped.

Waiting for them were a number of dragons, including Krita and Gravon. The normal group, Celestia, Zepos and the others didn't seem to be invited to this one. It interested the dragoness somewhat as she walked forward. Tyler was standing off to one side, seeming a little nervous and excited at the same time. Liam was with him, giving a small grin in Silver's direction, which she returned.

"Great, you got her," said Iraliene, glancing toward Retrix.

"So what's with all the excitement?" asked the metal dragon.

"We will get to that," replied the Queen, before looking over the dragons around her, a small and almost eager smile present on her jaw, "I have called you all here today because we have made a breakthrough, one that very well may win us this war."

She turned to Tyler, who nodded his head in agreement, "This human has created something that will disable the devices allowing Eldawin to control the multitude of dragons that he does, and it doesn't involve the difficulty of electrocuting them either."

Silver tilted her head, blinking slightly in surprise, "What?"

Iraliene gestured to Tyler to continue with the explanation. The human pulled out his bag and sifted through it. After a moment or so he found what he was looking for and revealed it. It was a small machine of some sort, cylindrical in shape. It had a shiny metal shell and what looked like a dial on the side with numbers running down it.

"Is that it?" asked one of the dragons listening in on the conversation.

Tyler only grinned, "I like to call this little gadget the 'Mind Breaker'. It doesn't actually break minds, before you get all worked up, but it can disrupt a mind dragon's ability to... how do I say this... manipulate another's brain."

"But that's impossible," frowned Retrix, "Unless it somehow makes your mind disappear."

"Haha, no, not quite," he began to explain, "You see, when a mind dragon uses there powers, in fact when any mental species of dragon uses their powers, their mind sends out a... signal, causing things to happen. In a mind dragon's case, the signal cuts into the nerve impulses that control the body, allowing them to have access to... basically anything, to what we are thinking, our memories, and our very bodies. But what this machine here does is it breaks that signal, disrupting it if you will, by sending out a signal of its own. Imagine... the mind dragon is the attacker, and this device sets up a wall that can be very difficult to get through."

There was silence for a moment as they took in what he was saying. It seemed impossible, but Silver suddenly had a massive hope in her. If Tyler managed to somehow make this thing work... then it would be just the protection they needed. A shield from Eldawin's mind. The idea was too good to believe.

"Does it work?" asked another dragon.

"Oh, it works. It works so well it's almost annoying," Krita said, speaking up from his position in the group, "I've been working with young Tyler here for almost a week while he has tested out this... device. I haven't found a way to get through it yet."

"Is there a way to get through it?" asked Retrix, glancing at Tyler.

The human hesitated for a moment, "Theoretically, if a mind dragon was able to change the frequency of their brainwaves to match the machine... they would be able to disable its power. But I have plans for that. See this nob? Turn it and the signal changes. Easy as that."

"Okay."

"What I don't get," started Silver, "Is how these are supposed to disable the devices."

"Aaah, that's where the beauty of these things come in," Tyler began to get excited again, "You see, I've always wondered why I haven't been able to hack into the devices from afar. I've tried it numerous times, but have never been able to find the network responsible for keeping them alive. But once you told us about Eldawin, I suddenly understood. There is no network. Well... there is, but that network is not connected to a computer of any sort. That network is Eldawin's head. And once I realised how he did it, I knew how to stop it.

He sends a signal out to all the devices, see, that signal strengthened by the connection he shares with the element stones in those devices. This little gadget can break that connection, rendering the devices useless. All it needs is a second, and even if they don't work against Eldawin directly, he can't possibly maintain the focus he would need to stop these things from breaking his connection with the devices. To do so he would need to stop focusing on the rest of his devices and put all his attention into one. If he does do that... we can easily break his connection with others."

"How many of those have you made?" asked Iraliene.

"This is the only one," he replied, "Haven't had the time or resources to make any more."

"Maybe I could help with that," suggested Silver, "They don't look... too difficult to make."

Opening her mouth she breathed a blob of metal forward, quickly catching it with her mind. The others looked at her strangely, wondering what she was doing. Silver narrowed her eyes and the liquid metal moved and reformed until it took the shape of the device in Tyler's hand, though a little bigger. She glanced at the human and tilted her head.

"That's... impressive," he said, walking over to the elronium made cylinder, "But just because it has the same shape, doesn't mean it'll move. I will need a bit more then that."

"True," Silver sighed, letting the metal return to its original state and move back into her shell.

"But it would be useful to have your help in making them," he said, "Elronium would definitely be a useful addition to it. And if you can do what you just did... well, we can make them very quickly."

"Good. That'll give me something to do around here," Silver chuckled softly, and nodded to Iraliene.

The life dragoness nodded her head back in agreement, "How many could you make in a week with Silver's help?"

"Maybe a hundred. Depends how well she can mould her metal. I can't exactly do it myself," he said.

"I can make any shape with my metal," snorted Silver.

He laughed, "Then we should be fine."

"Good, then may I suggest something to you all," Iraliene spoke, looking around the group, "We must begin to make something of this war. So far we have only gathered numbers and strength, and now we have a way to fight back against Eldawin's mind, I think we should take the fight to him now. Once Tyler and Silver have built these 'Mind Breakers' we will attack the A.O.D.H."

Silence followed her speech, and the dragons around her exchanged glances. The weight of her simple words instantly hit them. This was real. For the first time in a century dragons would rise up to fight against the organisation. All other attempts had been knocked down, defeated. Tens of thousands of dragons killed in the process. But now, it was time to try again. And this time... they would succeed.

"Let's do this then," grinned Retrix.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey guys! New chapter! Sorry for the long wait, and sorry for the shortness of this one. I've been incredibly busy the past week or so, and it may take long periods for me to post chapters. Sorry. Anyway, vote if you enjoyed and comment what you thought. The next chapter will be a bit more exciting I promise :) See Ya!

Pennator^^