Noah groaned as he opened his eyes slowly, still disoriented from the sudden shout by Nina. He looked to his left to see Eva huddled in a ball right next to him, Pip in her arms, and Nina’s tails spread out in a semi-circle around them as if to shield them.

“Hey, Noah! Eva! You guys alright? Get up now we’re under attack!” Nina yelled as she retracted her tails from around them. The once tranquil room was a complete mess, with most of the surfaces charred black.

She’s right Noah, something big just hit us with a fire ball and I don’t think we’re in the clear just yet.

Gaia’s tone was stern, forcing Noah out of his stupor as he helped Eva up and gave Pip a reassuring pat.

Suddenly, a pained roar swept through the air, the creatures wails were filled with a mix of fear and anger, culminating in a high pitch screech, forcing everyone to block their ears.

“What the hell is that thing?!” Noah yelled as a large clawed wing gripped onto the railing, a serpentine head with dark red eyes and scales covered in a sickly black tar glared at the group and roared once again.

“Dragon… but that makes no sense?! Why would a dragon attack us?!” Eva yelled, her voice uncertain as for why such a wise and calm creature would try to kill them without warning.

“Noah, remember when you got your seed? And we told you that every seed has an antithesis? Well, look at the dragons’ scales. See that black substance covering it? Looks like ‘he’ is being more proactive than I thought.” Nina said as she got into a fighting stance, her tails pointing at the dragon aggressively as they glowed with an amber energy.

“Wait, you mean the guy who’s making those shades? Is this one of them?” Noah asked.

“No, this is a dragon from Eva’s world, who’s been corrupted by a shade. I think this is a test though, as ‘he’ doesn’t possess the ability to corrupt other living beings, he can only absorb energy. If that’s true…” Nina turned to face Eva, who was still shaken up from the sudden attack by a species she considered friendly.

“Eva, you have the seed of life and Noah, you have the celestial seed. If I’m right and this dragon has been affected by both the seed of death and ‘his’ seed, in order to survive this, you two will have to work together. The best I can do is distract it.” After suddenly revealing Eva also had a seed, she burst into a sprint and leapt off the balcony, the dragon falling off and following her. Eva and Noah ran forward and looked over the ledge.

As Nina fell, she let out a loud howl that swept across the landscape and pulled herself into a ball, covered by her tails. The dragon opened its jaw, a black jewel embedded in the back of its throat formed the nucleus of a purple fireball which shot out like a missile towards Nina. Het tails glowed a brilliant amber as she used them to brush away the ball of flame.

Her body was no longer humanoid, but the form of a true nine tailed fox. Her body had grown rapidly, making her about two thirds the size of the three-story tall dragon.

Nina’s tails aimed at the dragon as she stood mid-air like it was nothing, rapid firing needles of amber light towards the dragon. It quickly covered its head, expecting pain from the attack, but was surprised when it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had expected. The black tar covering the dragons body was absorbing a significant amount of the attacks energy.

Nina smirked, her snout showing numerous teeth. She never intended to kill the dragon, only gain its attention. Nina jumped through the air returning to the balcony where Noah and Eva stood dumbfounded.

“Ok guys, the best I can do is distract it, my seed alone isn’t enough to wear down the shade attached to the dragon, nor can I get rid of the corruption. So, you better act fast.” Nina repelled another purple fire ball before leaping at the dragon and smacking it across the face with her tails. The dragon responded with its own tail whip sending Nina hurtling across the sky.

“Do something my ass! I can’t fly!” Noah complained as he pooled energy from his halo and mixed it with his seed energy. The energy veins began glowing brighter and Noah quickly pooled energy into his hands, before throwing it towards the dragon, who was turning to face them.

The ball of energy flew in a parabola and landed on the dragons wing, letting out a surprised wail as the attack managed to burn through the protective layer of black tar and began slowly melting through the dragons scales. The dragon attempted to brush off the ball of golden light however it seemed to just stick to other parts of its body instead, spreading the pain further.

“Oh, I didn’t expect that to actually work.” Noah muttered to himself.

Didn’t you listen to Nina at all? Your attacks are the only ones that ARE effective against that tar stuff.

“Noah watch out!” Eva yelled as her hands glowed a light green, a magic circle appeared under Noah, causing a protective wooden shield to form around him as a fireball enveloped him.

Noah breathed a sigh of relief as he avoided being incinerated, however the relief was short lived as he realised the whole deck was charred and began to fall apart. Noah fell through the floor, sending him into a free fall.

“No!” Eva called out as she saw Noah fall towards the ground. Pip didn’t waste any time as she leapt off the charred balcony. Using her gravity manipulation ability, she increased her rate of descent, quickly catching up to Noah.

“Squee!” Pip cried as she smacked Noah in the chest, winding him. Now that they were together she reversed her ability, making herself positively buoyant, slowing the rate of descent. However, Noah was too heavy, and Pips’ ability wasn’t strong enough to support both of their weight, so they continued to fall. Seeing the ground get closer and closer, Noah desperately sent energy through to his feet. Two streams of golden energy burst towards the ground, the force cushioning their landing enough that instead of splatting on the ground, Noah simply tumbled across the forest floor, holding Pip in his arms.

“Pip! Are you okay!?” Noah cried as he opened his arms, finding Pip knocked out in his arms. Quickly checking his companion’s status, he was relieved to find out she wasn’t severely injured and had just exhausted herself with the overuse of her ability.

“You saved me. Thankyou.” Noah pulled Pip into a tight hug before placing her inside the hole in a large tree to hide her.

“Gaia, I’m not going to be able to help Nina and Eva if I’m stuck down here. Is there any way you can give me a hand?” Noah asked as he checked himself over for injuries, finding only small cuts and bruises.

I’d check your status if I were you.

Doing as Gaia said, Noah looked through his status and his eyes locked onto a new ability he had apparently gained.

Name and Age:

Noah Valentine, 18 Earth years

Race:

Human/Celestial (Seeded)

Abilities:

- Enhanced mental abilities (general)

- Celestial Seed energy I

- Enhanced physical abilities I (seed)

- Solar energy absorption I (Race)(Halo)

- Celestial flight (Race) (Limited)

- ???

Titles:

- Selected by the Celestial seed

- Dual soul (Companion card)

- Watched by the void

- Watched by ???

“Celestial flight? How did I unlock that? All I did was fall. And some of the (limited) conditions have disappeared too.” Noah shook his head, he was running on borrowed time, he could hear the roars of the dragon and the howls of Nina as they fought in the sky above.

Noah closed his eyes and activated his ability. This time, he felt the drain on his energy, likely because this was the first time using this already (limited) ability. He had no idea how long it would last but what other choice did he have?

Energy began pooling at his shoulder blades, tendrils of light bending and twisting until they formed angelic wings of golden light. They were small, and Noah could tell this was the limit of his current abilities. Bending his legs, Noah jumped into the air with as much strength as he could muster, his wings of light flapped behind him, sending trails of golden glitter through the air. Noah felt the air pressure against his body as he soared hundreds of meters into the air. After reaching the peak of the leap, Noah panicked as he began falling back to the ground, only for him to quickly flap again sending him flying even higher.

Looks like I need to practice this more later huh, Noah thought as he came closer to the broken balcony. He saw Eva hiding behind a wooden pillar she had conjured, holding her arm which looked to have been burned. Before he was able to help her Noah saw the dragon dart towards him, its jaw opening as it tried to bite him. Quickly forming an energy tendril in his left hand, he dodged to the right, and sent the tendril around the dragons neck. Thinking he had captured it, Noah felt relieved, however he ended up being dragged through the sky by the dragon’s momentum as it clawed at the whip that was burning through its tar armour.

Noah detached himself from the whip so he wouldn’t get dragged any further and tried to balance himself in the air. He heard Nina’s voice from behind him, turning away from the dragon that was about to free itself from the tendril.

“Damn nice going with that last attack, I’m surprised you managed to dodge considering it looks like you just got those wings of yours.” Nina grinned as she spoke, however it was clear from the wounds on her body she had borne the brunt of the dragon’s aggression, which made Noah feel guilty.

“Don’t be like that kid, you’re no trained warrior, and you’re both still young.” Nina turned her fox head towards her back where Eva was sitting, healing her arm with some kind of magic.

“Now, it’s about time we finish this. That poor dragon is in agony from the effects of those seeds. It’s lost its bodily autonomy, and while the tar is protecting it from our attacks, it’s also eating away at its life force as we speak.” Nina spoke in a solemn tone. Eva, after healing her arm had a determined look on her face.

“Now, here’s the plan.”

The three of them got into position as the dragon finally managed to free itself from the energy tendril. There was a prominent burn around its thick neck that looked as if someone had gauged its flesh out with a burning knife.

It let out another pained wail as it flew towards the group. Rather than a fire ball, it released a long breath of purple fire that bashed against the combined defences of Nina’s tails and Eva’s wooden shields. As the group moved closer, Noah moved to the side to attract the creature’s attention. Knowing Noah posed the greatest threat to it, the dragon followed him as he made for the world tree which Eva called home. As the dragon was about to catch him, Noah dashed to the side causing it to crash into the massive trunk. Having been disoriented, it stopped flapping its wings, causing it to fall, after desperately gripping onto the trunk with its claws, the dragon attempted to jump after Noah once again, however it found itself bound to the tree, its claws pulled into the trunk. Branches emerged from the tree and begun wrapping itself around the dragons’ wings, chest, and legs, trapping it.

In a last-ditch effort to escape, it tried to burn down the branches holding it in place. As it opened its mouth, Noah shot another energy tendril directly at the back of its throat, attaching it onto the black gem. The black tar on the dragon started to shiver, like a living being as it sensed it was in danger. However, Noah didn’t give it a chance to respond, pulling back as hard as he could on the tendril, forcing the gem out of the dragon’s mouth. The black tar came with it, like a sheet being pulled off a bed.

The black gem fought back hard, trying to eat away at the energy of Noahs tendril, however it was a slow process, considering celestial energy was its weakness.

While Noah was managing the gem, Nina and Eva made their way to the now restrained dragon. After making another branch to restrain its head and jaw, Eva stood next to the dragon’s head, placing her hands gently down onto its now tar free scales.

Eva closed her eyes briefly before beginning a chant, green blue light began pouring from her body as she opened her eyes, where a green crystal had replaced her right eye. The dragons dark red eyes began to lighten as Eva used her seeds energy to remove the corruption from the dragons’ body. Slowly, it stopped struggling. The dragons’ eyes returning to their natural blue, the same colour as its scales.

“Thankyou…” It whispered as the dragon instantly passed out.

Meanwhile, Noah was running low on energy, he could no longer ascend with his wings. Flecks of golden energy were breaking away as his wings began deconstructing. Noah’s halo was weak, and the rate of natural recovery was not enough for him to maintain flight. His seed energy was also almost dissipated looking at the dullness of the energy veins covering his body. In a final move, he pooled all his remaining energy into a ball and shot it at the crystal covered in tar. The two energies collided, fighting against one another for supremacy, however the black crystal couldn’t absorb it fast enough, eventually being engulfed by Noah’s celestial energy.

Noah smiled at his success before entering free fall, only to be caught by Nina, who had returned to her humanoid form.

“Your prince is here to save you Noah, you may shower me in praise later.” Nina teased, as she held Noah in a princess carry.

Ignoring her, Noah turned to face Eva who smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Noah then heard a “squee!” From below as Pip came darting up towards him, smothering his face with her fluffy body

It looked like things had worked out in the end after all.