A silent night in the forest is all it should’ve been. Not a night of fear and anxiety as the hunt began once again. Under a veil of shadows, Alec hid. Dread made his blood run cold, knowing he was powerless to ease his situation. Danger was all around him while he squatted in a cave within earshot of the clang of weapons that crashed outside. Trained since he left his small village, he’d hoped to be an adventurer like his brother, who’d left a year before he did. Combat wasn’t a fresh sight to him, fending off animals, brigands, and sometimes even soldiers when he had to. But now was different. His predators were unlike anything he’s ever faced. In a split second, two figures touched the ground, then vanished. The battle moved at an instant, at a pace he’d never imagined possible. A wipe of his clammy hands over his sweaty forehead left a slight burn in his eyes. Resorting to using his dirt covered shirt to dry his face. A grunt cried out to his ears.

“Hah!”

The sound of a man running out of breath. It would be only moments before the fight would end. Alec ducked his head into the shadows, bracing himself, and curled into a ball. Prepared to remain hidden until everything ended.

“Hah… Hah!” More grunts echoed.

His will to live waned. This was to be the end of his life. Without a struggle. Wiped away from existence and remembered as a casualty.

“Dragon’s Pride!”

The words stiffened his body, warming him with a sensation that was all too familiar. Hope. Uncurling from his ball, he slowly raised his face back to the light of the moon. He bit his bottom lip, each clash of the weapons tightening his fists. “To hell with it!” Alec exposed himself from the cave, gripping onto the spear on his back and charged into the open. “Bring it on, dragon spawns! I’m done hiding!” His determination grew and his heart soared as he anxiously searched for the battle. The smell of something burning lingered in the air and the sound of clanging metal had disappeared, hearing nothing but his own breathing.

“About time you walked out of there!”

Before Alec could determine where the voice came from, a lance crashed beside him. On his toes, Alec skipped backward and protected his eyes from the dust while keeping his spear in front of him to prepare for an attack. The air cleared, his attacker revealed, withdrawing her lance from the dirt with one hand. Fraym.

“I dunno what you’re hiding for. It’s not even our turn yet.” She scratched her head, expressing mild confusion. “Do most humans who fight get this scared? That weapon you carry is confirmation that you’re one of the fighting ones, right? Now that I think of it, what kind of fighter would have no weapon?”

Alec saw nothing but a monster in front of him. Everything about it meant to deceive. From its oddly casual way of speaking to its teenage girl appearance. None of it was believable in his eyes. The spear lashed forward, his hands on the shaft and near the blade. “Die!” A pang of anger jolted in his chest while he impaled his spear into the dirt. Three glowing trails extended from the weapon, creeping through the dirt in different directions, but all headed toward Fraym. Jagged blades of gravel jumped from the trails, slashing out at Fraym, who easily dodged around the attacks with slight movement while she stared at him.

First curious, a spark of realization showed on Fraym’s face the longer she gawked at Alec’s technique. “Oh, I see!” With a childish glee, she also impaled her lance into the ground. The weapon split down the sides into four bladed ends, then surged with red ether that dove into the ground releasing a chain of explosions in his direction.

Panic grew on Alec’s face. Retrieving his spear, he ran the fastest he’d ever had in his life. Sweat slid down his neck, followed by a burning intensity that scorched his back. A glimpse revealed a shroud of fire enclosing around him. Stumbling over his own footing, he tripped, returning the restless dread that rattled his heart. That’s it… I’m done for! He had lost hope when suddenly the flames ripped down the middle and dispersed to the sides. Once his jaw collided with the ground, Alec instantly turned around to see his red-headed savior twirling his spear and smashing the butt into the ground.

“Get out of here now!” said Zio. “Remember what I taught you about protecting yourself from this ether, and don’t forget it! I’ll hold both of them off as long as I can!” Dashing out from the trees above, Naago clashed against Zio’s spear with his arms. Zio repelled him into the air, watching as Naago spun and took hold of the long sword on his back. A swing of his spear and he clashed with Naago’s blade. A scream summoned shining black scales that crawled up Zio’s body, with wings sprouting from his back. “Go!”

Naago grew a demonic smile, the thrill of battle coursing through him. Zio drew back a punch that smashed into Naago’s cheek, then opened his hand and swung him through an adjacent tree that fell over him. Naago ran his palm along his blade, and it lit with a purple flame, then with a single slice, the tree diced to pieces before he renewed his assault.

“Naago!” Fraym said, bouncing eagerly. “When’s it gonna be my turn!? You’ve been fighting for like a day now!”

“You’ll have your turn when I say!” Naago yelled back to her, swinging an attack at Zio’s head. Zio stepped back, narrowly avoiding his slash and using Naago’s momentum against him. Back to back, Zio’s arm wrapped around his neck as he threw Naago into the open of the moonlight, then leaped in the air above him with his spear pointed downward. Acting quickly, Naago spun his body using his hands and kicked purple fire into the air like a cyclone, keeping Zio in the air. Kicking his sword into Zio, who barely blocked it, Naago chased after it and collided with Zio. “If I can’t fight Infernus, you’ll have to do it as a replacement. I admit, you’ve put up as much of a challenge as I imagine he would.” Zio’s wing curled toward Naago’s side. Noticing this, Naago broke their clash, striking Zio with the butt of his sword and raising its blade high for a slash. The blade came down, but Zio’s wing intercepted the attack, giving Zio the opportunity to back away.

Naago’s words appeared taunts. Zio was well aware of the fate that had befallen Tsuna in Morath. It has haunted him every day since. After a decade of avoiding direct conflict with dragons, he’d finally broken that fear. For a fear far greater would result should he choose to stand aside. Loss. It was all he’d known. The death of his parents, his lover, to the only person he believed might finally understand him. The scales that covered his body fluttered like a wave across his skin. The wings on his back dissolved, their scales shaping around his hands, nose, and mouth. For the first time in his life, he was ready to give his all.

The bystanders Fraym and Alec watched on. Pulses of ether reverberated through the air and pressed across the grass from where Zio stood. Fraym paced to her sides. “Hehe!” Giggling at the increasing tension that surrounded them.

A final suffocating burst exploded from Zio, forcing Alec to gasp for air as if he’d been holding his breath. Dense pressure fell over him, weighing down his every move and reducing him to crawl. Zio’s order sat on his mind. Run. But could he really follow it? The first role model after he departed his village was the man who was about to put his life on the line. A wandering dragon slayer, exiled from his order and hailed for his warlord level combat abilities on skill alone. Alec idolized him. Followed him through barren deserts and freezing blizzards, praying he would teach him how to fight. Three years passed, the fruits of his labor turning him into the warrior he’d only dreamed of becoming. Zio was not only his mentor and idol, but he was also his brother. Or so he thought. Returning from a dangerous mission from The Crossing, Zio brought a boy. He and Zio fought, blow for blow, arguing as if they hated each other, compelling Alec to share the same sentiments. Seared into Alec’s brain was the moment he’d lost hope of ever being anything to his mentor. When Zio stood over that boy’s lifeless body and silently wept as if he’d lost family.

Before Alec laid the spear that flew from his hands once he fell. One pull at a time, he seized hold of the soil and dragged his body closer to the weapon. He was to be a fighter. A hero who would return home, showered with praise over his accolades, and treated as more than a farmer’s son. Anything he could eat, any woman he wanted, he wanted anything and everything life offered. All it took was luck and a sacrifice. His dirt soiled fingers curled around the spear as he directed his attention toward his target. Fraym ogled at Zio’s power, unaware of Alec’s movement behind her. Now was the time to strike. Pressing himself from the ground, it was as though Astraea believed in his conviction by giving him the strength to move. One step at a time, he silently approached her from behind, placing both hands on the spear. Dryness of the air began taking its toll as his vision faded in and out the closer he came to his target. Within striking distance, his heart cried out and adrenaline surged through his body with every ounce of the strength he’d built throughout his training. “Ahhhh!” Darkness took his sight again when he thrust the spear forward, stopping fast. He was certain the hit landed when the blood that splattered on his face dissolved instantly. Light returned, and he found Fraym staring at him. Holding his spear in her hand, the blunt end jabbed through his abdomen.

“Alec!” Zio’s pressure fell over Fraym, caught within the eyes of the beast. Tears of fire streamed down his scales, burning a trail down his body. Swiftly overtaking Fraym, she raised her lance in defense of his assault. Zio battered her weapon, gradually chipping at it with every strike of his weapon. Naago’s pressure returned as he took a swing at Zio from the side, causing him to withdraw from the two of them.

“You okay, Fraym?” Naago asked, stepping in front of her. She walked around him, opening the blades on her lance and kneeled into a combative stance. Zio howled into the air, the trails burned into his scales erupting flames across his body. His spear in one hand, bent over, huffing. The hunt had truly begun. In front of them was no longer a man, but what they saw as an Incarnation of the fire deity himself. “Right. We’ll take him together.”

***

“There’s not a time I don’t think about what happened then. Trapped on an island with a band of murderers. When they shot me in the head and I only survived because of my fusion with the dragon. How I slaughtered the man who tried to kill me.” Tsunashi said, dashing between the trees of the forest with Glacia in his arms. “The sequence that went after matched perfectly to what you described. This woman you speak of is undoubtedly of higher power. What has me concerned is if she’s of this world? Or another one, like me.”

“She’s divine for sure!” Glacia said with a spirited confidence. “Someone with the power to steer the direction of fate itself. I can’t believe she’s on our side.”

Tsunashi gave her a quizzical look, now that he’d heard she’d fought the woman on various occasions before. “Are you convincing yourself that now she’s not trying to kill you? Aren’t you being a bit too wishful? She’s driving her own goals, ours just happen to work alongside them. Who knows, we may end up on the other end of her blade one day.”

“Nothing needs to convince me to chase my ambitions. The only thing that stopped me before was that I was the only one who knew of his evil. If someone of that power believes I can do it, then it has to be a sign! That’s all that matters!”

“What of the Ash then? Innocents will die if we don’t stop him.”

The question was valid, but with the hypothesis that Tanka and Mushi had given her earlier, she had a plan. “How long has the Ash been hunting you?”

Tsunashi thought briefly. “Shortly after I woke up in Morath. After that, we’d have encounters from every few weeks to every month. It came after me first, then I went after it. I stopped trying to fight it after the idea of it possibly holding the rest of Tsuna’s memory.”

“When you first met me, do you think it confused me with you?”

“Our ether is quite distinct. That’s not how it should work, but… Where are you going with this?”

“Ever stop to think that maybe it isn’t just hunting you, but all dragons? What other dragon have we seen around?” Her response made Tsunashi bite his lip. An act that made her question the thoughts in his head and wait for an answer.

“None. You may be correct.” Glacia’s gaze still lingered over him. “And if this turns out to be true. Will we flee to Elysia with a dragon on our backs?”

“A dragon, the Tarragon when they realize I disobeyed orders, and maybe some guilds under Elysian control. There’ll be many after us, but I’ll overcome them all.” Her tone was decisive. Glacia was sure of her path now that she reached the first light of her tunnel. All she needed was someone at or above her level. Though she’d yet seen what he’s fully capable of, she was confident in the mysterious woman’s decision of placing her with him. “I just need someone I can count on. A confidant who’ll go through the blazes of hell with me to punish a great evil.”

“Each time you describe your problem, you get more and more poetic. Do you realize that?”

A hideous cry stole their attention. To Glacia, it was the familiar cry of a dragon. Tsunashi, however, recognized the sound. Identical to his own, it sounded more like a call to arms than a cry for help. There were limited options on who it could and would be. His face tensed and he ran faster. A scorched path left along the ground as he hurried toward the call.

***

Fraym emerged from the darkness, ramming her knee into Zio’s face. Naago, who Zio had by the neck, broke free of his hold but couldn’t get far enough away for Zio to slice into his back with his spear. Stepping back, he buried his face in his free arm to prevent further attacks from Fraym. An explosion went off around his feet, taking him into the air as more explosive chains altered his direction. Hovering in the air, Zio pulled back his spear. “Dragon’s Pride.” The tip of his spear burned crimson before he circled the skies above them.

“Naago, move!” Fraym said, flipping her lance from the ground and enveloping her body in a red shroud.

Rolling into the cover of the trees, Naago watched as Zio soared the erratically soared the skies. The blazing light of his spear gleamed like a shooting star as a dove toward the ground with a sonic boom. Fraym’s ether rocketed into her lance, gathering around the center as she smirked.

“It’s time for this knight to prove herself! Watch this, Naago!” A thrust of the lance and an immense beam fired into the sky. The intensity of the blast delivered shockwaves around Fraym and destabilized the ground beneath her.

Zio charged into the blast, grinding his spear into its center. Flames rushed around him, staring into the blinding source of the fire. Shifting his spear diagonally in front of his body, he spun, diverting the blast toward another direction with a swing of his spear. The blaze of his spear disappeared, but he pressed on. Collapsing on Fraym, who braced for his attack, he sprayed flames from his mouth. Fraym responded in kind, with her own fire shooting into his, resulting in an explosion between them. Escaping from the smoke, Fraym remained on her toes as Zio emerged with wild swings of his spear. For every attack Fraym blocked, she’d return two, narrowly missing her strikes. A backhanded swing sent her flying and Naago returned to protect his exposed sibling. He and Zio exchanged quick blows when, abruptly, Zio grabbed onto his shirt and head-butted him before stabbing his spear at Naago’s torso. Naago clutched the blade with his bare hands, blood rushing through his palms. Zio was overpowering him, and he needed a way out.

“My lord, forgive me!” the skin around Naago’s eyes shifted into a dry brown color.

“Naago, no!” Fraym called, returning to the fight.

Her call snapped him out of his trance, giving him the incentive to spray fire. The flames had little effect on Zio, but he released Naago to focus on Fraym. Fire ran throughout Zio’s spear, he and Fraym clashing on several blows. A precise cut aimed for Fraym’s head grazed her in a last second dodge, followed up with a powerful kick to her stomach before picking her up and slamming her into the ground. Deflecting her lance upward, Zio felt an intense pressure from his side. Before he could move, Naago’s blade carved down the side of his body, slicing through the scales. Flames burst from the cut left from Naago’s attack, forcing Naago back, but evidently weakening Zio. Fraym regathered her composure, stabbing into Zio’s chest with her bladed lance and quickly firing a blast of ether that sent him flying into the forest.

“Finish him!” Naago shouted, lifting his blade and rushing forward. Rustling came from above, pausing his and Fraym’s next moves. Urgently, they tried to locate the source of the sound when suddenly spikes of ice raced toward the two of them. Fraym slammed her lance into the ground, shattering the ice that approached her while Naago took to the air. A shadow fell over him, a human body falling from above with a fist pulled back. The fist went ablaze, revealing Tsunashi who landed a punch on his face and battered him until they both hit the ground. Tsunashi’s leg pulled back, sending a powerful kick to Naago’s stomach and sending him near Fraym.

A drained-looking Glacia fell from the trees, dropping into Tsunashi’s arms once again. Both of them were silent, Tsunashi first noticing Alec’s body impaled, then turning back to see Zio, scales blown from his body and sliding off of his skin. His heavy pants proved he was on the brink of death.

Unsure of who’d come to his aid, Zio felt a touch of relief. Though it was not enough to make up for what had already been done. Another life that mattered to him, lost, and with all this power he could do nothing to prevent it.

Glacia dropped from Tsunashi’s arms, rushing back to Zio. At first stressed, touching his shoulder brought a sense of calm. The miasma no longer had an effect. “So, it is you.” Glacia exhaled. “Zio Achilles.” His confused stare struck her as either him being too beaten to make sense of the situation or him on the verge of passing out. Light gathered in her palm, pressing it into his ash covered chest. There she spotted something that made her recoil from hand a bit. A purple wound festering on the side of his abdomen, swirling like a black abyss. What is that? She couldn’t let it distract her she turned her head. “He’s alive! Can you deal with the two of them alone, Tsunashi?”

That name. The reprieve in Zio’s chest brought his eyes to flutter, but not as much as the name he’d just heard. Though not the same, it sounded close enough for him to give into the wishful hope. Eyesight straightening, he looked ahead to the man before him. What struck him first was the jacket. My jacket. Flowing in the wind, revealing the man’s half tucked button down under a vest strapped around his chest. Those clothes look like they’re from Leora. Who is that? What followed overwhelmed him, burning tears into his eyes as his body went numb to everything. Tsunashi’s crimson red eyes, staring at him from over the collar of the jacket. He’s alive! Tsuna is alive!