“I should’ve known you deliberately let go most of your powers, Zenithia,” said the dragon shrouded in light. “And a child dragon? How unbecoming of you to be reduced to that.”

“But it works, didn’t it?” said Zenithia. “Now, you are nothing more than the dragons that live in this realm, Shawar!”

The dragon roared and charged at Zenithia and Adeline, who froze in place, fearful of what would come to her. Zenithia again tried to fight, but she used most of her powers to protect Adeline and was simply swatted away by the dragon. Adeline, snapped out of her fear and angered by Zenithia being hurt, growled and readied her claws against the dragon. She ran on all fours, then lunged at the dragon, intending to maul it. But before she could, the light dragon dissipated, then reappeared behind her and grabbed her leg.

Adeline was slammed to the ground with such force it created a crater. She was saved by the timely use of a magic shield by Zenithia. The white dragon managed to gather enough power to protect the werewolf.

Shawar, however, knew of the limits of the shield and proceeded to slam Adeline several times with the barrier slowly cracking. Adeline felt dizzy and sick from being thrown around, but she did not feel any pain. Unfortunately, it was only for a moment before she felt the impending feeling of death as she approached the ground, helpless and vulnerable.

But a timely save from Keeshar, who rushed out of the barrier with his trusty macuahuitl and slammed it into the unsuspecting dragon caught Shawar off-guard, causing him to let go of Adeline, who landed on all fours safely. Keeshar then proceeded to rend through Shawar’s flesh by sawing him with the saw-like blade of his weapon, causing the light dragon to roar in pain.

Shawar responded by holding one of his claws in front of Keeshar. A light beam formed from it and almost hit Keeshar if it wasn’t for his quick reflex. Unfortunately, he must let go of his weapon, which was kept lodged on Shawar’s shoulder. The pain caused by it, and the defiance of the people attacking him, finally made him lost his light.

The shroud did not really change what he looked like under it, but his appearance of a white scaled dragon with mystic blue eyes and translucent wings quickly made it apparent that he was no ordinary dragon.

“Hrrgghh,” the dragon growled. “Zenithia, you traitor…”

The dragon let out another roar. All of the sudden, the dead bodies around the dragon came to life, but then became horribly mutated by the changes caused by the light, becoming the monsters that terrorized Pol Hain and the village Richie stumbled upon.

Behind the gate, Hans wanted to go out and help, but his fear, and his better judgment won. He knew if he got out, he would be killed. He could only watch as Adeline and Keeshar were being surrounded by the monsters, scared of what would happen to him.

“Are you scared, little wolf?” said Avila’s voice. “But you must kill that dragon while you still able. If you don’t, he will retreat, and the next time won’t be so easy. Stand your ground, or else Dracokin falls!”

“Stand our ground against that?!” said Richie, who made his worries known. “A nuclear disaster?! Are you crazy?! Even if we do, we’re just making it easier for all of us, because we are already dead!”

“Crazy as I am, this is not the place for you to die! I will not let it, not while I am still bound to my duty!” said Avila.

Hans shook his head, knowing that he was just taking a coward’s path. It wasn’t Avila’s suggestion or anything. It was just him. He had always doubted himself and even fear people’s judgement. This time, he needed to be the fool, and risk it, if it means saving Adeline and Keeshar, two Ternorians who reminded him of home.

Thus, he ran forwards, out of the barrier. His eyes were fixated to the saw-like weapon embedded on the dragon and quickly jumped towards it. He grabbed it and, with his werewolf strength, pulled it off Shawar’s shoulder. This surprise attack caught Shawar off-guard.

“Kee!” exclaimed Hans. He threw the sword and Keeshar caught it with a twist, using the momentum of the twist to bisect a mutated creature lunging at him. Adeline ran towards Zenithia and found the dragon was hurt from being swatted away by the dragon. She then cared and protected her, though she knew she must escape the growing madness.

Richie saw Hans’ risky charge and, with a groan, said, “Shit. Can’t look bad in front of the dragons, now, can’t I? Hey, black raven dragon.”

“It’s Avila, Richie Long,” said Avila.

“You look like you specialized in darkness, from the look of it. Is it a good guess?”

“I am surprised,” she said with a genuine expression of surprise. “How can you tell?”

“Emo-looking dragon with raven wings is too edgy for me, but at least it’s functional. Does your darkness have gravitational aspects to it?”

“Another good guess. It is as if you know what I am.”

“I like overpowered characters. Okay, here’s what you gotta do. That dragon uses light, right? Now, I don’t know how this world’s logic works, but if you do manipulate gravity, then I need you do exactly what I will tell you.”

“I will do what I can to preserve life.”

“Alright. Make a black hole. Make it as dense and as dark as possible, so that light will not escape it. Can you do that?”

“It will require all my concentration to do so, but it is possible.”

“Right. Do it as soon as that dragon let out another light beam. I have a feeling the next one’s gonna be big. Get in position!”

Richie concentrated, then conjured his electric blade construct as he rushed out. He was not trained in using a sword, so he looked like he was running with his sword, ready to slash the dragon. However, the dragon already anticipated a surprise attack, so he turned to Richie and opened his maws. Richie saw strings of light forming around the dragon and he smiled.

“Get baited, motherfucker,” he said. “Now, Avila!”

Richie jumped away just as Avila ran behind him and stopped right in front of the dragon. She held up a black ‘orb’ of condensed darkness just as Shawar released the light beam. To the dragon’s surprise, the light bent towards the condensed darkness and was absorbed by it.

“You!” he said with a sinister, raging voice. “Even after we have dealt with you, you still are a thorn on our side! I should’ve ripped that venomous tongue of yours long before you ruin our plans!”

“I would like to see you try, light bane!” she declared. “I am the death you feared! The end of a dragon’s journey!”

Ritik and Azureath soon joined the fight. Both defended the city walls from the monsters as Avila absorbed the light beam from the dragon. Ritik took this chance to let out a fireball spell, helping Avila by trying to break Shawar’s concentration. The fireball hit the dragon right in the face, but he was too determined to finish what he started that he did not stop the light beam until Keeshar saw the opportunity to try and cut the dragon’s head off with his macuahuitl. The Raptor’s attack connected, but again like before, he was forced to get off when his sawing attack did not even penetrate the dragon’s scales. Clearly, he had anticipated it.

Adeline, who was protecting an injured Zenithia, wanted to go back and help, so she grabbed a nearby sword hilt and pulled it. To her dismay, the blade was destroyed by the initial pillar of light, with the ornate hilt the only thing that’s left. She wanted to throw it away and returned to using her claws, just as Zenithia said, “Adeline…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kept this from you. I’m one of his kind. I was the cause of the pillar over Pol Hain. I thought I mitigated the damage, but even after sacrificing my body, I—”

“No, Zen, it’s not in vain. People die, but many more survived. If it is true, then we all owe our lives to you. But I can’t do that. Not unless you swear to tell me everything with honesty. Now, tell me. Do we have a chance to do it? Can we kill that dragon?”

“Yes, we can,” said Zenithia. She then looked at the broken sword. “But It will involve a great risk. I have been giving you and those with no mana protection a well-needed protection from the light, but once I do this, all of you will be exposed.”

“But if we can’t do it, then this fight will only end with us dying. As of now, we’re horribly outpowered by that dragon. Whatever the plan is, I just hope it will end that dragon with one fell swoop.”

“I do. Hold up that broken hilt.”

Adeline forgot she was still holding onto the sword hilt. But she wasn’t sure what Zenithia was trying to do and became reluctant.

“I know you are hesitant, but for this once, trust me,” said Zenithia with a certain conviction. “How good you are with swords, Adeline.”

“Not enough to call myself a swords expert,” said Adeline. “But I can swing one, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“That will be enough. Now…”

Zenithia wished it wouldn’t come to this, but she must risk it if she wanted to finish the job she set to do back in Pol Hain. She had been protecting everyone from the light, but now she must draw upon those limited pool of resource for one deadly strike.

She only hoped that it did not end up taking all the resources she had.

Adeline waited for Zenithia to act, hoping that her plan would not end up killing them for the sake of killing the dragon. Before she could start asking, she saw what Zenithia planned to do and was amazed by it.

The sword hilt she took glowed, then the blade portion took form as a solid, but malleable, light construct. It looked unlike any swords she had seen, but she also knew the sword could cut even steel.

“You just need one big swing. It doesn’t matter how you do it, just make sure you don’t miss,” said Zenithia. “Are you ready, Adeline?”

“I am trusting your direction, Zen,” said the red-furred werewolf. “Don’t fail me.”

“I won’t.”

Adeline, with high hopes and empty mind, ran towards Shawar. Her digitigrade legs made her ran fast enough to reach the dragon before he even noticed her. Considering the barrage of attack from all sides and the injuries caused by Keeshar and Hans, he did not see Adeline jumping and getting ready for a downward slash. Keeshar saw her and, sensing something was going to happen, withdrew from Shawar’s throat while Hans finally noticed her when he looked up as he bit the dragon’s back.

Adeline struck the dragon with a downward slash, and quickly became surprised when the length of the light construct blade extended long enough to go past the dragon’s neck. She landed afterwards, then looked up. She knew the attack connected, but the dragon was unaffected.

That happened just before bright red blood started to flow out of the dragon’s neck. Shawar did not react or move; he stood there with a bewildered look on his face. Then it happened.

The light sword connected and cut through Shawar’s neck. It was just so sharp he was only decapitated after a couple of seconds. Shawar still managed to look towards Zenithia just before his head was decapitated, falling just as his body fell to the side. The dragon’s body then became engulfed in blue flame as it slowly burned away, leaving only a silhouette of what was once a white-scaled dragon called Shawar, with no body left.

Hans and Keeshar were both horrified and amazed by Adeline’s feat. Even Adeline was surprised by how effective it was.

“Cool sword,” said Richie as he approached Adeline. “Where did you get that?”

“It’s Zen,” said Adeline with a smile. “She ends up saving us all, even if she is the start of all this mess.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Hans.

“A story for later, perhaps. For now, I’m glad it’s—”

Adeline convulsed and felt pain on her chest. It was as if her lungs were on fire. Then she coughed, and she saw blood. Just as she was going to turn to Zenithia for explanation, both Hans and Keeshar were also wracked in pain, with Hans quickly collapsing clutching his chest and Keeshar holding his head in pain.

“Z-Zen…you’re right,” said Adeline as she fell on her knees. “The risk…it's too great….”

As she said so, she fell to her side, with Zenithia running to her. Ritik and Azureath joined Richie and Avila as they saw the three collapsing and in critical condition. Ritik was the first to realize what it was.

“By the dragon god,” he said with a gasp. “This is Aetherium poisoning. Acute poisoning from direct exposure. We must get them to the healers, right away!”

“I’ll call from them!” Azureath promptly ran back to the city while Richie asked, “Ritik, what’s Aetherium poisoning?”

“Aetherium is anti-magic, but in a very potent level that it starts to affect the mana pool in a body, corrupting it into anti-magic. You don't get the worst of the symptoms unless your mana generation is compromised by illness, genetic factors, or simply because of the lack of a mana pool. Since these three are from Ternor and had no magic potential, they had no natural protection."

“Wait, so it’s like radiation poisoning, right? How come you’re not feeling ill, then? Or even me?"

“Dragons, and to an extent, dragonborn, have natural immunity to it. I already knew the danger and created a barrier around myself. But it took quite some time before they collapsed. Did someone protected them?”

“That…would be me,” said Zenithia. “I told Adeline of the single strike to kill Shawar, but I didn’t expect the risk would be too great. I redirected the barriers for the sharpness of the light construct, but it caused them to be exposed. I simply hoped they weren’t so exposed by it, but I underestimated their complete lack of magic potential. I…just hope I didn’t kill them.”

“Not unless we get to the hospital.” Richie grabbed Keeshar and carried him on his back. “And Zenithia? Maybe next time tell us what the hell is going on?”

“I’m sorry….”

“Don’t be,” said Avila. “If it wasn’t for you, Pol Hain’s fate will be shared with the poor souls beyond the city walls. You lost your true form just to protect that town, and it also gave us a chance to kill the light bane. I won’t pry on your motives, light bane, but for now, I know you are on our side.”

Zenithia again became agitated by Avila’s presence. She sensed danger that even paled that of her own kind. Somehow, the dragon reeked death. It was as if her mere presence was enough to signify that death was nearby.

“We both have secrets to tell, black dragon,” said Zenithia. “I have told you mine, but you still haven’t. What are you, that even Shawar is angered by your presence?”

“It seems it serves no purpose to hide it, now that you have shown what you really are, light bane,” said Avila. “Then I will tell you who I am. I am the mystery of life. The reaper of souls. The beginning and the end of a dragon’s journey. I represent the void beyond life. I am Death.”

The revelation surprised Richie and Ritik, along with Zenithia. The light dragon did not expect to be guided by such a powerful being, not to mention be helped by her.

“W-wait a sec,” said Richie. “Death? As in the grim reaper? You mean, you’re here because all of us are going to die soon?”

“That may be what I usually do, but this time, this is my own choice," said Avila. "It is only a coincidence that death is around the corner, especially since that is what the other aspects are responsible for. I am responsible for guiding the souls of dragons. I am the Aspect of Draconic Death."

“You mean, there is a chance that Death is a pretty goth lady?”

Avila chuckled. “Only if you wish for it hard enough, Richie Long.”

Richie could only gasp in awe. Avila was an aspect of Death all along? She did not look so menacing (well, she was menacing, in a way), and she was so kind.

“Guess Gaiman makes her a friend,” he thought. “Can’t just make her look like a living dragon skeleton, I suppose. After all, you need a friendly face at the end of your journey.”

At least he hoped it wasn’t his end. Yet.