Chapter 3: Differences
"So we're going to Antarctica?" said Zepos, looking at the silver dragon in front of him with an expression of surprise and shock.
Silver nodded, "Well, I'm going to Antarctica, and I thought I would ask you to come with me before you decide all on your own."
"Of course I'm coming," he replied, "But Antarctica? Don't you hate the cold?"
"Eh, it won't be as bad as an ice dragon's breath, at least I don't think so," she replied with a small grin.
When she had learned that the dragon base was hidden in a small mountain range somewhere down the lowest, and coldest, part of the world she had reconsidered her decision. Elronium, the metal her shell was made from, didn't do well under extremely cold temperatures, becoming nearly brittle and really difficult to move. It would become a grave nuisance, making it very difficult to fly, or move her tail and neck. She guessed if it became too much she could just shrink it until it was barely there, but she would rather avoid that.
"When do we leave," asked the electric dragon.
"In a couple of days. Iraliene's sending a mind dragon name Merene with us as well. So, it will just be us three. Three dragon's shouldn't attract to much attention," she said.
"Well, you by yourself could attract a lot of attention, by multiple dragon hunters. Are you sure you've thought this through, because as much as I want to come with you, I really.... really don't want to go back to A.O.D.H," he said.
"Come on, we've dodged them before. It won't be too difficult. We just need to be careful not to be captured by D.E.D again. I think we'll be seeing more of them then anyone else," she replied, "We are going to be taking a similar route to how we got here in the first place."
"Ha, okay. Well at least we'll know where we are going," he grinned slightly, though still seemed a little nervous.
"Oh, come on Zepos. It'll be fun. We'll get away from the mountain for a while, meet some new dragons, fight off a few dragon hunters, then come back," she said.
"Yeah, I know. I just want you to be safe."
Silver snorted, "Safety is over rated. What's life without a bit of adventure?"
"Depends whether the adventure can take away your life," muttered the electric dragon to himself, but he couldn't let Silver go alone. She seemed happier then she had been for a while, and he enjoyed having her this way, "But I won't be able stop you, may as well come with you."
"Good," Silver grinned, "I'll see you later then. I want to talk to Raize as well."
She took off without another word, glad that he was coming. She was a surprised at his initial reluctance, thinking that he would be eager to go. A new place. A new world. It was something she couldn't wait to see; yet Zepos had seemed to want to stay at the mountain. Why? She frowned as she thought about it. She knew of Zepos's history with the hunters. He was born into them, spending the first couple of months in A.O.D.H's grey walls, then her father freed him, and then there was the second time, about a year, before Silver herself freed him. Then there was D.E.D. It was only a day or two, but it was still enough to scar him. To escape a fourth time he would have to be extremely lucky.
She sighed. Maybe he was getting to comfortable with the safety of Sky Mountain? It was a bit of a lazy environment out here. Silver couldn't remember the last time she went hunting, or felt the exhilarating rush of a whirlwind beneath her wings. This place was getting boring, and now that her mind was clearing she felt herself longing to break out of its clutches. No, she wouldn't run away, it was far too dangerous at the moment, but she wouldn't be coming back for a couple of months at least.
Finding her way to The Centre, she drew herself to a stop again, hesitating. She wondered how Raize would react, with her leaving. A month ago he would have come willingly, always one to explore. He loved it more then she did. But with this newly changed version of her brother she doubted he would. He seemed bent on grabbing revenge on the man. She knew of a fire dragon's rage. It was an explosive account, an enormous amount of power, and then everything was back to normal, the fire dragon usually recovering quite quickly. But that hadn't happened with Raize. She guessed he was different from most fire dragons, being the fact he usually used his head before getting into any situation, but that could lead to some dangerous consequences. He was planning something, she just didn't know what.
Sighing she turned toward the tunnel that lead into the training arena where her brother was undoubtedly continuing with his rigorous routine, when another dragon flew over her. She nearly didn't pay it any attention, but when she realised who it was she let loose a snorting sigh. She guessed she couldn't avoid him forever.
"Hey Silver!" said Gravon the gravity dragon, the one creature she didn't want to see right now. The very look on his face made her want to rip it off.
"Gravon," replied the dragoness, regarding the drake with contempt.
"Where are you going?" He said with a snark grin, not at all put off by her tone.
"To talk to my brother," she replied.
Raize and Gravon didn't have a high liking for each other, especially after her brother had knocked the other dragon unconscious in a scuffle. She had heard of it later, and it had been one of the few things through the past month that had actually improved her mood. Now that she knew the true reasons behind the gravity dragon's interests she really didn't want to be with him. Sure, he had passed through her thoughts before, but now, she just wanted to rip his wings off.
"That lizard? Why? He's all broody and all that. Always hitting those bags. What is he hoping to accomplish with that anyway? It's not like he's learning any new skills punching away at some inconspicuous object," snorted Gravon.
"He can still kick your but," Silver murmured to herself.
"What?"
"Doesn't matter. No, if you excuse me I need to get going," she growled, going to walk past him.
"Oh come on Silver. Don't be like that. Most females would die to get even one night with me," he said.
She suddenly turned, snarling dangerously, "Well I'm not your average 'female', you snake. I did give you a chance, you blew it, and you don't seemed to have learned from it either. Now, I may seem all healed on the outside, but inside, I am ready to burst. I dare you to give me a reason to."
The drake actually took a step back, a flash of fear flickering through his eyes. He snorted, eyes narrowing, the fear quickly replaced with anger. A heavy weight suddenly fell on to the dragoness's shoulders and her eyes narrowed.
"Let me go, or I'll rip your damned throat out," a rumble escaped her throat and metal spikes began to grow on her tail.
The weight disappeared, and she snorted, before walking away from the furious gravity dragon. He was unused to being rejected so harshly. He wouldn't let it stand, not for one moment. He was the son of Iraliene, leader of Sky Mountain! How dare she not want him! The very thought of it made him shimmer with rage. He had left her alone for the past month, allowing her to recover before he tried again, but he had had enough. Snarling he turned away from the dragoness and flew into the air. He wouldn't let this stand.
Silver made her way through the tunnel to the training arena. It was another large room that looked similar to The Nest, but without the jagged walls or numerous caves, and there were far less dragons. It was a rather bleak area actually, filled with grunts of pain and snarls of both anger and excitement. Elemental breaths were lancing through the air creating swirls of different colours and patterns.
A group of 'under eight' dragons were being taught by Frezron, Sky Mountain's battle teacher and the only dragon Silver knew that could defeat her in an all out fight. He was a very powerful ice dragon, and he had quite a few useful tips for when she wanted to fight. He was much like Raize that way, but then again ice dragons often were cool headed and thoughtful. He was also the only dragon that Silver had met at Sky Mountain that she actually enjoyed the company of. Everyone else seemed so far into 'rules'. It reminded her of a human society. Another reason why she wanted to get out of there.
However, watching younglings struggled with their elements wasn't the reason why she came here. Looking around the Training Centre she found Raize in his usual spot, hammering away at straw bag larger then he was. He dodged an invisible strike, before punching with his wing, then blocking the imaginary return attack, before unleashing a barrage of flame. The bag was flame proof, so it didn't cause much more damage other then a scorch mark, but Silver had heard of her brother actually destroying one of them at one point.
She watched him for a couple of minutes, judging the pattern in which he moved. The more she watched, the more she realised that the pattern was just an erratic series of movement. There was no... sense behind it. It was like her brother wasn't even trying to fight. He was just striking, again and again and again. The same movements in different ways, again and again and again.
She began to move closer to him and stopped again when she saw something else wrong with her brother. Steam seemed to be rising from his body as shining sweat trickled down his scales. Dragon's rarely sweated, seeing as they usually could deal with hot temperatures quite well and didn't need to cool off, fire dragons especially. The sweating meant something was seriously wrong. And there was something that looked like blood dripping from the arms of his wings.
"Raize!" Silver said, trying to get her brother's attention.
He ignored her, or didn't hear her, she didn't know which, and kept hitting the bag, seemingly unconcerned about his bleeding wings.
"RAIZE!" she roared, jabbing her brother with her tail.
A growl escaped him, swing around with his wing outstretched to strike her in the head. She ducked easily, having a fair idea of what the jab would probably to do to him. It was a wild swing, without any thought behind it, and without the expected shock behind it Raize stumbled forward with a snarl of surprise. Silver stepped out of the way, sliding her tail through his legs and tripping him up, making him land on his side with a huff.
"Have I got you're attention now?" the dragoness asked, gazing down at her brother with a mixture of concern and disgrace. The Raize she knew wouldn't do this to his body.
A grunt was the reply as the fire dragon slowly got to his feet. He glared at her, the heat radiating off his body increasing slightly to match his anger. A spark ran through his eyes, before he looked away, the spark fading.
"Why do you do this Raize? Every day, you keep on doing nothing! Just pounding away at that bag like your life depends on it? What happened to you?" growled Silver.
He snorted, looking her in the eye for a moment before turning elsewhere, "I am doing something."
"It doesn't look like it."
"Because you wouldn't understand it."
"Well maybe if you told me I would. We both lost the same thing."
A snarl escaped him, "Maybe so, though it seems some of us are doing a lot more about it then others."
"Yes, because punching a bag is so much more productive then what I'm doing," scorned the silver dragon, before letting out a sigh, she hated seeing her brother like this, "Look... Raize. You need to go see a healer dragon or your wings will be destroyed. You won't be able to fly! There are some things that even life dragons wouldn't be able to fix."
Again he snorted, "I don't need to fly. I've got other more important things to worry about."
Silver actually took a step back at the comment, looking at him in surprise. What was happening to him? It was like he had become a completely a different dragon. He didn't need to fly? Every dragon needed to fly. It was a necessity, like eating or sleeping, the greatest thing in the world, and here he was, saying that it was not important.
"What happened to you?" she gasped.
"I'm not going to let my father's death go Silver, not like you have. And I will make sure that justice is served," he looked at his wings, "Whatever the cost."
"I haven't let his death go, I'm just not letting it control my life," snarled his sister, "I'm going to do whatever I can to get vengeance on the creature that did it to him. But I won't let it control me, not like you are."
"Then you are lost," he said simply, turning back to the bag.
"Raize! Please! You're hurting yourself. Stop!" Silver nearly begged him, "At least see a healer. They can stop you from taking any more damage."
"Healer's are weak," was all he said, before hitting the bag again.
A growl escaped Silver's throat, followed by a wash of anger and sorrow, "Fine! You want to ruin your life, I won't stop you, but I am going to get vengeance my own way. Maybe then you'll see sense."
She turned her tail on him and stalked out of the room, anger bristling. She couldn't understand him. It seemed like he wasn't accomplishing anything, and the more she watched him the more she thought he had gone mad. No sain dragon would do what he was doing. It was dangerous and useless. He was practically self-harming. It infuriated her, and the worst part was she couldn't stop him from doing it.
Pushing her thoughts away from him she looked to the roof of the tunnel she trudged through. She really needed to get out of here.
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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Vote if you did and comment what you thought. I'll get the next chapter out as quickly as possible. See Ya!
Pennator^^
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