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I'd like to give a big thank you to my readers

You are all truly the best

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Carefully poking the book out of the blood puddle with the stick, her eyes were mesmerized on how the blood simply slid off the cover and pages like water on plastic, not even staining the leatyer cover. When she had managed to return the reading material into her hands, she hesitated on opening it, head spinning side to side as she saw some of the civilians duck their heads back in their houses, although a few children and older folks simply watched with an unsettling curiosity.

'E....'

'Emma.' Joel's voice had finally returned back into the girls mind, warmth spreading with each letter. She quickly sprinted to the ruby colured dragon and embraced his neck, inhaling his honey and oak scent. The dragon purred, head sluggishly lifting to nudge her side. Joel was still tired, and his eyes darted towards the debris that held the cloaked attacker captive.

'I do believe he's still in there.' Hesitation was shaking through the dragons voice, the fear of being knocked out by the same drug and rendering him useless sparked brightly. Emma sighed, looking over to the building as if it was going to tell them what was going on, but after a few passing seconds of silence, the girl began to walk over to the debris.

Time went agonizingly slow as she walked, each step seemed to take hours, and the path between her and the cloaked man seemed to stretch farther, as if the strings of fate were trying to keep her away from what lurked inside the midnight coloured cloak. After Emma made it two steps away from the building, she was thankful for the extension of time, for a boulder the size of her torso came propelling at her direction from the debris. With a panicked sidestep, the girls eye picked up the cloaked man With his hand raised in the air, magic pulses dancing around it.

Another rock, this one smaller then the last came colliding with Emma's chest, sending her flying backwards a couple meters. Joel acted fast after watching the wind her knocked out of the girl, his jaws scraping against the rock as he located the earth mage that was using magic. He held back his anger and wrapped his claws around the man with enough force to squeeze some air out of him, but quickly loosened his grip as if the man was a toy. The dragon patiently waited for Emma to regain her breath, triumphly holding the cloaked man that struggled to get his arms free from the iron claws.

"Good work Joel, now let's Scooby doo this thing and reveal the attacker." Emma chuckled to herself, lifting the hood of the cloak off the man's face. She nearly stumbled backwards as she saw the familiar brown eyes of an old friend, red and black streaks now evident in his irises.

"Nice to see you again Emma."

"I can't say the same for you Bailey."

°°°

David was internally panicking after pacing for hours inside the mental glade alone, face flushing millions of shades red. He kept visiting the place in hope that Emma would return with the successful news of her obtaining the book, but with no reassuring look of her voice, or her calm eyes sending shivers down his spine, all he could do was worry.

He sighed, leaving the glade for the fifth time that day. His only real comfort was Aqua, her furry face and feathery wings keeping him protected from the world he hated so much. It played dirty with its cards, keeping the male in some sort of event that left him miserable.

'I'm sure they're fine David, you know how strong Emma can be, and with Joel, she'll be protected." Aqua offered some reassurance by licking the males face, a motherly love that David never had.

"Aqua, you're a dragon that's supposed to be able to see the magic cords of people, right? So...if Emma had no magic, then what is she supposed to be?" David asked with a deep breath. The blue dragon seemed to ponder these questions, her mind flashing different memories of the girls events into David's mind.

'Every single person is born with a dragon David, even the girl we talk about now. She isn't the first person to be born like her, only a few have come before her in a span of thousands of years.' Aqua stretched her body, eyes glossy as if she was in another world.

'I don't know what causes they grey eyes, I'm not even sure what she is either, but I do know that she can be anything you desire to see. I see her as a strong girl that had a fondness for my rider, a girl that wouldn't leave her friends for the world. She is nearly everything to me, but what you see can be different.'

David felt lighter, a smile spreading on his face as he thought of the girl that made his heart leap in his throat.

"I see a girl that can overcome a difficult task with nothing on her side, someone that can turn the odds with just being there. I see so many potential things that I wonder if she knows how amazing she is. No magic or not, I'll still love her." The smile on his face was wide, his heart leaping and mind on cloud nine. Aqua sent an emotion of love to the boy, and he easily returned it back, now feeling tired after the lack of sleep.

'Rest now child, for she shall return soon with the weapon that could save us all...' The dragon coaxed David into shutting his eyes, letting him finally pass out after a long worrying journey. The feathered beast also let out a large jaw, curling around David with one last thing mumbling out of her mouth.

'The paths are set, now we must see which one she takes.'