Before any of us could even think to move, we were entangled in masses of constricting Shadows. Erridor, with just the click of his fingers, had us all suspended and tied up in the air, flailing to no avail, as he watched disdainfully.

"You know," the evil man thought aloud, "Right now, I could focus my energy and have these Shadows squeeze the life out of you. They'd be like vines, wrapping tighter and tighter until you cannot breathe, and eventually they will cut you like knives until you've been split into a million pieces of flesh."

I winced at his description, struggling against the dark, snakelike bonds. Avyn growled from beside me, held up as well, Shadows wrapped around his snout so he could not harm them.

"But," Erridor chuckled, and I wheezed as the Shadows pressed down on me, "I'm in a surprisingly pleasant mood today. I think I'll have some fun in tormenting you." He sighed and rubbed his hands together. Instantly the Shadows retreated and I fell to the floor, thankfully not breaking anything, gasping for air.

"So, you pesky little rats," Erridor grinned at us with surprisingly sharp teeth.

"Come at me, why don't you?"

Avyn, without warning, shot a huge blast of fire towards Erridor. He didn't even flinch, just merely vanished in a cloud of darkness and reappeared a few feet away from the scorching flames.

Avyn continued, blasting fire at Erridor, who simply teleported away every time.

"Avyn! AVYN!" I screamed over the sound of his dragonfire. He eventually turned to me, ceasing his efforts.

"It's not doing anything. We have to try and escape," I pleaded with him, and then indicated to the rest of my friends to do the same as we all sprinted towards the wide open door.

A wall of Shadows prevented us from escaping.

"Shoot," I groaned, turning to my friends. Suddenly, Amber gasped. She pulled us all in as Erridor whistled nearby, clearly not concerned with us.

"Look," Amber murmured, "Clearly using our strength won't work. He's 500 times stronger than any of us here." We all nodded in sad agreement.

"But, we do have some advantages. There are seven of us here, and one of him."

She whispered the rest of the plan, and our eyes lit up with hope.

"As for the last bit," Aiden interrupted. It had been around twenty seconds and Erridor was getting annoyed, but still thought we could never harm him.

"I'm doing it," Amber reminded him sternly.

"No, I shall. He's taken enough from me." Thalia stepped in.

Amber was about to chastise her when Aiden said, "No. He's my father, my responsibility."

"That doesn't make him your responsibility," I argued now, "And besides, you guys shouldn't care. I'm doing it anyways. I will do it to protect Avyn and any other dragon, and don't you dare argue with me because that will just make me want to do it more. If any harm comes to any of you, I couldn't live with myself."

"Don't be the hero, Lana," Amber warned seriously.

"Hypocritical," I teased, but everyone heard how strained my voice was.

"HURRY UP!" Erridor roared, and I felt Shadows slap against my back, shoving us towards the dangerous man. I gave my friends one last warning glare before we set our plan into motion.

Aiden stepped forward, standing just a few feet away from our father. My heart pounded in my chest, scared and angry and tense.

"Erridor," His voice was calm and yet cold.

"Aiden." The cold man replied.

Suddenly, Aiden held his arms out, his grey-blue eyes shut tight, and used all of his power to summon Shadows of his own. Aiden's Shadows erupted from his palms, swirling around Erridor and my brother as they cocooned the two.

"Now!" I whispered, and everyone took off. Thalia dashed towards the storage room; Amber sprinted with Rainsong down to the prison cells, Navi ran towards some rooms for the soldiers, and Avyn turned to me one last time.

It hurts me to leave you, Lana. His voice sounded so broken, so sad.

I know. But I will be okay. I love you, Avyn.

So many memories.

Let's not make this our last one, I warned him, and he sighed and bounded off in the direction of some random hallway.

As for me, I had volunteered for the most dangerous position. I sprinted towards the back of the room, where I saw chests upon chests of weaponry, armor, food, and other supplies for the working dragons, back when they were forced to fire onto Erridor's prison cage.

It took me a while just to get back there, but eventually I managed. I tucked myself into one of the chests with raw slabs of flesh in it, ignoring the repulsive smell of rotten meat, and for a finishing touch propped open the lid ever so slightly so I could peek out.

Just in the nick of time, the Shadows surrounding Erridor and Aiden, which were blinding Erridor and letting us hide, dissipated. Erridor screamed out as he noticed none of us were there. Then he saw the wall in front of the door was still in tact, and he let out a breath of relief.

"You may have let your friends and your dragon run and hide, but you will not escape me." Erridor snarled. He raised his hand and Shadows lifted Aiden up. Aiden gasped for breath, and Erridor loosened his bonds ever so slightly.

"I will hunt them down one by one. I will kill each and every one of them while you watch, son." Erridor spat, and stalked away. I bit the inside of my cheek to restrain from gasping when I saw he was heading towards where Thalia had hidden; the storage room.

In the darkness of my hiding spot, I fiddled with my twin daggers.

In only a few minutes, Erridor was dragging Thalia out by her braided red hair. Thalia screamed and kicked at him, and eventually Erridor used his magic to tie her up as well, next to Aiden. My friends looked at each other frantically as Erridor headed off Again, this time towards where Avyn was hidden.

I nearly screeched at the thought of him harming Avyn, but managed to stay still and quiet as Erridor walked cockily towards the hallway Avyn had ventured off to. He walked a mere few yards away from me and just the thought that if he had turned and seen me, the plan would have been ruined, nearly drew me to tears.

Lana, are you all still okay? I heard Avyn's voice. I let out a shaky sigh to hear him.

Yes Avyn, the plan is working so far I guess, but Erridor is coming your way. Do your worst to him if possible.

Okay, you are so brav- Suddenly I felt Avyn's fear as our mind link severed. I tried to control my breathing - it was hard, but I had to do it for Avyn. A mere few minutes later Erridor emerged again, with Avyn constricted by Shadows and being pulled along behind him like a sack of rice.

Erridor propped Avyn up next to Aiden and Thalia and then went off in some random direction. I was relieved to find that it was one of the hallways nobody had went down.

Nearly ten minutes later, Erridor returned stormily, looking more furious and insane than he had before. His hand and his eye were both twitching, his face looked like he had scratched himself with his own fingernails, and his breathing was rugged.

As he stomped past everyone, he clenched his fist and my brother coughed out a tiny bit of blood, his face turning purple from the sudden pressure. Erridor released him, remembering that he wanted Aiden to suffer, and continued on, towards where Navi was.

Avyn, do you think this will work? I suddenly was desperate to know.

The reason we do things is not because we think they will work. It is because we hope they will. And I will not say yes, because that would be a lie my dear. I do not think it won't work either, however. I hope it will work and I think that in the end, you and I will still be together, whether alive or dead, because that is the one thing that will always be constant.

At that moment I felt so much love for my precious dragon, who I had raised and watched grow since he was just in his egg, that I thought my heart would burst.

In return to your words, Avyn, I agree that I do not think this will work. I know it will work. I promise you right now that it will work and you need not fear. When I do complete this, when we win and we escape, I'm going to tell you yes, I knew this would work. I told him right back.

Our talk was interrupted as Erridor dragged Navi back in, who was flailing around in her Shadow bonds. Erridor simply hung her up with the rest of them and went back out.]

So how did he find you? What happened? I asked Avyn.

I have exceptionally good hearing, but even I did not hear as he snuck up and used his magic to tie me down. It was like he was a Shadow, invisible somehow, for it was too late once I realized where he was. Avyn replied.

Another ten minutes went by before Rainsong and Amber were dragged up here, and suddenly Erridor had captured and found every single person but me.

However, Erridor returned his focus on searching the rest of the building. Every time he came out of a hallway that was empty he would roar in anger, look even more demented and crazed every time he couldn't find the last victim.

An hour we waited.

An hour I spent crouched in the rotten-meat stinking crate, clutching my twin daggers, as Erridor turned the whole Fortress upside down in his search.

Finally, the demonic man stopped looking. Instead, he sat wearily in front of all my friends, and put his head in his hands. If I didn't know him, I would say he was about to cry.

Now was my time.

Silently as a mouse, I pressed up against the lid of the crate. I shut it so slowly and so softly that it made not one sound. I crept forward, staying in the darkness of several different bodies and chests. My daggers, in my hands, still were soaked in blood.

Sweat dripped from my chin as I slunk forwards, through the chaotic mess that was the room, towards where Erridor was sitting in front of my tied up friends and dragons.

Suddenly he stood, and I froze, praying, praying he wouldn't turn around.

He started pacing, not once looking behind him where I was lying on the floor behind the unconscious or dead body of a dragon. I began moving foreword as he focused his attention on my terrified friends.

"DO YOU KNOW WHERE SHE IS?" He roared at them? Nervously, each shook their head in turn.

"You're l-lying," He wasn't stuttering, instead his head was twitching like some kind of psychopath, which I realized with a jolt that he was.

"No, Erridor please, we're not lying," Thalia murmured.

"YES Y-YOU ARE!" He continued twitching, and then grinned at them all.

Slowly I crept closer.

Three.

"Well nevertheless, I guess all this means is she won't watch her friends die." He narrowed his eyes. "I wish s-she could watch t-this too, she especially deserves death because of her w-wretched m-mother."

Two.

"Nothing deserves death." Aiden spoke out.

One.

"Except maybe you," Amber added, and then I stabbed my knife into Erridor's back.

Erridor spluttered, coughing out a fit of blood, and whirled around, facing me, still with my dagger in his back. I gasped as I realized it was sticking out of his chest, and yet he still watched me with a passion. The Shadows surrounding us dissipated.

"You're gonna regret that," Erridor drooled blood, and took out his own knife. It was short and clean, but I recognized it with horror from our melee combat lessons - that was a knife that carried enough poison to kill twenty men.

I stumbled back as Erridor leaned over me, holding the knife. In one fell swoop he stabbed the knife forward.

Suddenly a massive force knocked me over and I fell to the ground, eyes shut tight. In a split second I turned to see Avyn watching me with eyes flashing between pink and blue, love and sadness, with the knife sticking out of his throat.

Erridor gave a short laugh and then collapsed, blood pooling around him.

I will give you one last comfort in shielding my pain from you. Avyn told me, and I noticed now I was not feeling pain, only his love and sadness.

"AVYN!" I screamed, jumping forward just as my beautiful indigo dragon lurched, falling into a quickly growing puddle of his own blood.

"No, please, Avyn don't leave me, you know I cannot live without you. You're my rock, my beloved, my other soul. You mean too much to me, I love you so much, oh please Avyn, please stay with me." I cried, begging him for something he could not do.

You... k-know... you will.... not die...

I cried into his blood, hugging his neck, pressing my cheek to his, feeling as my very own soul was being snuffed out. Without a dragon, the rider would not die per say. They just lost all will to live, they became zombies without a soul.

I cradled Avyn's head in my arms, crying and sobbing to him. His eyes were growing duller by the second.

"Do you remember when you first hatched? When you kept sneezing on me?" I asked him tearfully, ignoring the sympathetic silence from around me.

"And what about when you met R-Rainsong?" I asked him now, without a reply.

"Well funny how that turned out because now you're in love with her," I sobbed into his scales.

And then Avyn went limp.

"Avyn, Avyn no," I cried into his body. I put my hand to his nostrils and felt no air coming out. He was not breathing. I put my hand on his chest and felt no heartbeat.

My head started spinning, and then I blacked out.

I opened my eyes.

"Avyn?"

There he was, lying in front of me, his two front legs crossed over each other, his green eyes narrowed, and his tail flicking.

"Oh my precious little boy, you're here!" I rushed forwards and jumped to wrap my arms around his neck.

"I will not stay here. I have a meeting with Death, Lana." His voice was serious.

"I will not let you." I argued, ignoring the fact that he was suddenly speaking aloud, and not in my head. I suppose that's because we were in my head.

"Let him what?" I turned to see nothing, except the faint wispy shadow that I assumed to be Death.

"You will not take my Avyn. He means the literal world to me, if he dies just kill me too at least." I begged.

"Lana, it is not your time yet. But it is your dragon's." Death answered.

"If it were possible, couldn't you just not take him and let him live until we're both old and happy?" I begged.

"I could do that, but that's not-" Death began but I interrupted it.

"DON'T!" I yelled.

The misty shadow swirled.

"Look, just a few minutes ago I would never believe that I could be in some ethereal realm, begging for my life of my soulmate, but a few minutes ago he wasn't dead, either. So please, Death, understand that it is not Avyn's time. I don't care what you want to say or what you do, give him time with me before we go. Without each other, we are like plants without the sun; do you understand?"

"You are the first soul that's ever seen me, let alone defy me of my duty." Death murmured.

"If I grant you more time, when you are finally, truly, supposed to die, will you accept it?" The mist swirled around us.

"M-More time? You're not lying?" I breathed out.

"Death does not lie, my dear. I have existed since the first microscopic molecule of life has, and yet I have never lied. Perhaps this once I shall reward two souls as strong and young as you." Death contemplated.

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" I sobbed now, kneeling before the mist.

Death grunted, "Go on now. I've always had a soft spot for children anyways." With that the mist vanished, and so did the ethereal realm and even Avyn.

I was alone in the darkness.